Pieces of The Puzzle
by Winters Skye
Summary: Soulmates. A weird concept? Well, maybe to some. The idea that there is someone, somewhere, who absolutely belongs with another, possibly somewhere else in the world, may seem farfetched. But in reality it's not as crazy as some may believe, there's actually a bit of a system in place. Although some may not call it a system at all. {Soulmate au}
1. Prologue

Soulmates. A weird concept? Well, maybe to some. The idea that there is someone, somewhere, who absolutely belongs with another, possibly somewhere else in the world, may seem farfetched. But in reality it's not as crazy as some may believe, there's actually a bit of a system in place. Although some may not call it a system at all.

Everyone in the world knows of this "system", and are told about it from the time they were kids. They are told that when someone dreams it's actually what their soulmate, wherever they are in the world, is seeing. It works the best when two soulmates are in two different time zones, although it makes it harder for them to get to each other.

The soulmates who are in the same time zones have a hard time experiencing dreams since they usually fall asleep around the same time. Except for those who are night owls and are matched with someone who is an early riser- and vice versa.

For some it's a fun puzzle taking all these little bits of their soulmate's life and piecing them together in an attempt to figure out who they're supposed to be with. It's a challenge, but most of them are up for it.


	2. Chapter 1

Rays of sunlight began to seep through the windows and curtains, waking the sleeping young boy beneath them. He sat up rubbing his eyes, his silver hair falling to his shoulders. With a yawn he stretched his arms above his head. The brown poodle at the end of the bed blinked open its eyes, letting out a small yawn of its own.

The smell of breakfast foods being cooked slowly made its way up to the boy's room, urging him to head down to the kitchen. Bounding down the stairs with the poodle at his heels, the boy ran toward the smell of the food.

His mother was standing as she cooked the family breakfast, and his father was sitting reading the morning paper, a cup of coffee next to him.

"Good morning, Victor." His mother turned around to face him, a spatula in her hand and a smile on her face.

The small window on the wall was open, a slight breeze flowing in. The sound of birds chirping filled the room.

"Morning mama," Victor smiled as he sat across from his father at the table.

"How'd you sleep?" His mom asked as she turned her attention back to cooking their breakfast.

"Really well!" Victor excitedly replied, his smile still growing. He loved what he dreamed of at night. It may have just been simple everyday things, but it was his soulmate's life (and that made it special).

"What did you dream of last night?" His father placed his newspaper down on the table, knowing that his son loved to explain his dreams.

"I dreamed of skating again!"

"Again?" His mother smiled as she brought over the food and placed it on the table.

"Yeah!"

All three of them took their plate of food and began to eat. Part of the way through his plate Victor spoke up, with is mouth full of food, "I'm pretty sure my soulmate is younger than me."

"Victor," His mother gently scolded him for talking with his mouth full.

"Sorry..." Victor apologized before he carried on with his thoughts, "They're also not from Russia. "

His mother giggled at his comment. "Well of course Victor, they're in another timezone if you can dream what they're seeing."

"No, not just a different time zone in Russia but somewhere completely different. The words aren't in Russian.. I don't know what they're saying." Victor paused for a minute, slightly frustrated that he couldn't understand much of his dreams because of the language barrier. "Or even what they're reading."

His father quickly changed the subject as he noticed his son's face fall. "Do you want me to take you to the skating rink today, Victor?"

At the words 'skating rink' Victor's face brightened again. "Please, Papa! I don't feel like walking today." Victor smiled again as he responded.

His father smiled as he finished the plate of food and placed it in the sink. "Tell me when you're ready to head out," he said as he sat down to finish reading the paper and drinking the coffee.

"Alright!" Victor quickly emptied his plate before doing the same thing as his father and placing it in the sink. He quickly ran back up to his room to change into his practice clothes and grab his skates.

The brown poodle hopped back onto Victor's bed and placed its head back on its paws.

"I'll be back later. Be good," Victor gave the poodle a quick pet before bounding down the stairs again, alerting his father that he was ready to go.

"I'm ready, Papa!" Victor called into the kitchen as he stood by the door. The sun shining through the windows.

His father drank the last bit of his coffee and brought the cup to the sink where his mother stood washing the dishes. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back later, I think I'll stop by the store after I drop Victor off."

She nodded before giving him a quick kiss in return. "Thank you," she said as she smiled.

He turned his attention back to Victor who stood patiently next to the door, skates in hand. "Let's go then, Victor."

The silver haired boy rushed outside and relished in the warm mid-morning sun. It was a beautiful day so far; the sun was warm and the breeze was cool.

After standing in the sun for a couple minutes Victor walked to the car where his father already sat waiting for him. He climbed into the back seat and placed his skates carefully next to him.

"What's Yakov going to have you do today?" His father inquired as he pulled out of the driveway and began driving towards the ice skating rink.

"He said I could start on my new program today!"

The man chuckled at his son's enthusiasm as they drove down the highway. "You'll be among the best before you know it, Victor."

"You really think so, Papa?"

"I can see you winning gold for Russia," His father made a type of sweeping motion with his arm almost to indicate all the amazing things he predicted his son would do, while keeping one hand on the steering wheel to guide the car. "You already make me and your mother so proud."

* * *

It was always amazing for Victor when his dreams of straight black came alive when his soulmate blinked open their eyes to the morning sun. He thought it was funny that when it was pitch black in Russia and everyone was tucked away sleeping, his soulmate was waking up to the sun falling through their window.

When his soulmate would roll out of their bed and make their way to the bathroom, Victor was able to see what was meant when they said you wouldn't be able to see your soulmate's face.

Usually when looking in a mirror, one would be able to see a face clearly looking back at them. But not in these dreams. These dreams had a way of being able to blur a person's face, making it harder for someone to find their soulmate. Life was great that way.

Although the face and specific features were completely blurred past recognition, Victor was still able to pick out the colors. He mentally noted that his soulmate had black hair- a complete contrast to his own silvery white locks.

~oO0Oo~

His soulmate's day was a bit boring to him, but overly so. The only reason he thought this was because Victor had already lived through this time in his life. It appeared that his soulmate was in a young grade, possibly first by the looks of it.

There were a bunch of young kids running around happily as they giggled while playing what could have been tag. The teachers were sitting supervising the kids' behaviors.

After a couple minutes of looking at the rambunctious classroom, Victor's soulmate directed their attention at the table they sat at by themselves. In front of them there was a simple coloring picture, parts of which they already filled in.

They began to pick up a different colored crayon as one of the teachers sat on the other side of the table.

"- why don't you go play with the others?" The brown haired teacher inquired in a foreign language, one that Victor didn't know but grew used to listening to night after night.

Of course life couldn't just blur a soulmate's face but also mute their name. Even if it wasn't muted Victor probably wouldn't have been able to pick out which was the name and which was the rest of the sentence. After all, he knew absolutely nothing about this foreign language, let alone even what language it was.

"I like it over here." The conversation continued, Victor unsure as to what was happening. His soulmate again looked down at the coloring paper.

"By yourself? Doesn't it get a little lonely?"

"No, not really."

"Well can I stay over here with you?" His soulmate once again looked up from the table to see the teacher with her elbow on the table and her head resting in her hand.

"Yes please."

"Alright I will," The teacher smiled resting her chin in both of her open hands. She gave off an air of being kind yet stern when absolutely necessary. It was slightly comforting to Victor, it reminded him of his mother in a way. "Can we talk while you color?"

"Mhhm."

"What would you like to talk about?"

Even though Victor couldn't understand a single word of the conversation he was simply happy to watch his soulmate color in the picture. It was calming, and the language was pleasing to his ears.

"The whole soulmate dream thing?"

"Okay. What's on your mind?"

Once again his soulmate looked up from the paper at looked the teacher directly in the eyes. "Is it ever wrong?"

* * *

Victor jolted up from his sleep as his alarm sounded, alerting him it was time to get up and face the day. He groaned, annoyed that he had to get up and go to school himself. But before he completely rolled out of bed, he leaned over to his nightstand to grab a piece of paper. He titled it and scribbled some things down before placing it back and leaving to go get changed.

The piece of paper read;

 _Notes about my soulmate_

 _-They have black hair_

 _-First grade?_

 _-Doesn't speak Russian_

* * *

 **Oh my goodness I hope you're all ready to join me and my wonderful beta reader Sandypenguin6 on this journey of this story. My god that sounds stupid. But we're both extremely excited to write and publish this story for everyone (also a bit for ourselves, because soulmate aus are great) I really was trying to get this up before the new episode airs where I am, so I'm not sure when it will exactly be posted. No matter, feel free to favorite, review, and follow!**

 **Thank you for reading!**


	3. Chapter 2

Quickly Victor started to become more recognized as the current junior figure skating prodigy. As soon as he stepped out on the ice for the first time, he took to it like he had been born to skate. He picked it up immediately, although there were the couple given trips and falls.

His popularity grew fast. Paparazzi would almost always attempt to get into the rink to get a glimpse of Russia's newest rising star in action. Everyone was usually unsuccessful in their attempts. The staff always made sure that Victor wouldn't have to deal with it. He was a sweet boy but many figured the publicity would go to his head.

There were still stories published about him in the news, which in turn led most of his classmates to bombard him with questions. After all, one of their own friends was becoming more and more famous.

A couple girls attempted to get closer to Victor so they might just get a chance to accompany him to a practice or two. Their attempts were all for naught, as he had been warned not only by Yakov but also his parents to not bring anyone else to his practices.

No one else was supposed to know his program until he went to a competition with it. That was partially his own wish since he always wanted it to be a surprise.

When the girls would ask for a hint or a demonstration of his routine, Victor would simply smile and wink saying, "Come to my competition I'm sure I'll surprise you."

The wink he sent his female classmates would send them blushing and stuttering. Some of these girls felt what could only be described as puppy love. Then again Victor was labeled as one of the cutest guys in their class.

But Victor kept his heart and mind clear, focusing on skating and knowing that his soul mate whom he was meant to be with was out there waiting for him.

~oO0Oo~

The classroom was mostly quiet except for the couple whispers of 'What did you get for number 6?' and 'Can you help me?' The class had been assigned a page of math problems to work on for the following half hour. There was about an hour and a half before the bell rang and the children ran out of the building to head home.

All of a sudden the silence in the room was cut by a ringing from the phone on the teacher's desk. The blonde teacher leaned over and picked it up.

"Hello?" A pause as she listened to the voice on the other end. "Oh, yes. He's here. I'll send him right down." She put the phone back down after the voice on the other side finished what they had to say. Her eyes passed over the classroom before quickly landing on the silver haired boy halfway across the room.

"Victor, early dismissal."

He looked up from his paper of problems, quickly he nodded as he gathered all of the papers from his desk and shoved them in his backpack.

One of his friends spoke up as he stood up and slung the bag over his shoulder. "Practice?"

"You know it," Victor responded with a smile on his face. "I have a competition in a few weeks."

As Victor went to leave the classroom there was a chorus of goodbyes and see you laters from the entire classroom. Victor waved his hand as he left the room and the teacher had to quiet the class to get back to their math work.

~oO0Oo~

At the rink Yakov was waiting for Victor to arrive. Barely any of the lights were on as the room was mostly filled with natural sunlight.

Victor quickly changed out of his school clothes and into his usual practice outfit, lacing up his skates and heading out to the ice. In anticipation he almost jumped onto the ice, only to be stopped by Yakov's voice, "Victor!"

"Yes?" Victor turned his attention to his coach, his silver hair swinging around his face.

"Go ahead and take it easy for a bit, then you're going to practice hard."

"Really?" Victor's face formed a look of surprise. His coach almost never let him simply skate however he wanted to. Usually once he got on the ice he was working on his program until the moment he got off. Except for the couple minute warm up and cool down allotted.

"Yes, this one time. Go on, your time's ticking," Yakov tapped his wrist where a watch would be.

Victor quickly nodded before pushing off onto the ice, letting himself get lost in his own thoughts.

* * *

Once more the black of his dreams awoke with the vibrance of a new day in whatever country his soulmate lived in.

When his soulmate walked out of their home, what Victor could only assume to be something like a hot spring, they appeared to be greeted by one of their friends who was constantly in their dreams.

"Morning -!" The girl talked in the foreign language. "Look at this!" She pulled out a poster that she had held behind her back, "Victor just continues to get more and more popular! It's crazy he's only a couple years older than us!"

Victor immediately recognized his name, unsure whether it was actually in reference to him until he saw the poster. It was definitely him on the poster. He was shocked, what a coincidence that his soulmate appeared to be a fan of his.

He never thought of himself as anything special, but apparently the paparazzi and these two kids thought he was amazing.

There was a gasp from his soulmate as they admired the new poster their friend presented to them.

"Where did you get this, Yuko?"

"Where I get everything else, silly." She smiled and stuck her tongue out. Quickly she moved her hand to pull her brown hair back in a ponytail. "Want to head to the skating rink today? I can show you some of Victor's new routine that he recently did."

"Yes please," Although Victor didn't know what was being said, he could clearly hear the admiration in their voice. He could simply tell that his soulmate looked up to this simple brown haired girl.

"Then let's go -!" She grabbed his soulmate's hand and dragged them along, not that they were unwilling.

As they ran down the small town's streets Victor was able to notice all of the beautiful things in the town in question. There was such different architecture in this town as compared to the one where Victor was born and raised. It appeared that there were buildings that only reminded him of castles.

~oO0Oo~

Once again the local ice rink came into Victor's view. It became very common for it to take a spotlight in his dreams. All he could think was that his soulmate really enjoyed the sport - albeit they weren't that good at it.

Both of the children quickly laced up their skates, the brown haired girl a bit quicker, her fingers moving fast and nimbly.

Once again she took a hold of his soulmate's hand and pulled them out onto the ice. Victor's soulmate took a minute to keep themself from toppling over onto the ice.

Victor inwardly winced at the fact that his soulmate almost fell over. He hoped that they were alright, he figured they were since they grabbed a hold of the boards and steadied themself.

"Awww come on -, I know you can stay standing!" The girl turned around, her brown hair swinging. She placed her hands on her hips with a smirk on her face.

"Y-yuko, you pulled me on," His soulmate whined. "I wasn't ready."

"Now you are! So, you want me to try and teach you?"

His soulmate eagerly nodded in response, which sent the girl into a simple warm up lap around the rink to begin with.

Her attempt at Victor's routine wasn't the best but it wasn't the worst. It was apparent that she had only practiced a couple times if she ever even practiced this specific program before this moment.

To Victor, she looked amazingly calm and pretty as she skated around the ice. In this world people saw what their soulmate was seeing, right? Not that they saw through their soulmate's friend's eyes?

No, no it was the former. Victor was absolutely sure of that. Sure this girl was pretty, but Victor was more intrigued by the person through whose eyes he was seeing what they saw. He was sure that _they_ were indeed his soulmate.

* * *

What awoke Victor was a steady pressure on his chest. When he looked up he saw his brown poodle resting its front paws and head on his chest.

"Alright, I'll get up."

At his words, the poodle picked up their head and turned toward Victor a look of happiness in its eyes.

Suddenly Victor was bombarded by a lot of wet dog kisses on his face. He laughed the whole time, he wasn't attempting to push the poodle off but instead keep him under control.

After a couple minutes of that Victor was able to sit up and the poodle was happily sitting at his feet.

"Give me a couple minutes, I'll get up." Victor smiled as he leaned over to his bedside table and picked up the pencil and paper he started keeping there. He scribbled a couple more things before placing it back down and hopping off his bed, the dog at his heels.

The entire paper on the table read;

 _Notes about my soulmate_

 _-They have black hair_

 _-First grade?_

 _-Doesn't speak Russian_

 _-Has a girl friend who has brown hair_

 _-Lives in a place like a hot spring?_

 _-Has an ice skating rink in their town_

 _-Different types of buildings_

 _-A fan of mine! :)_

* * *

 **You guys didn't have to wait that long for a new chapter! I actually have more written but I'm gonna wait a couple more days to post other chapters :) Again thanks to SandyPenguin6 for her help betaing this story. This has blown up beyond both of our wildest dreams in the short time it has been posted. Thank you to everyone who took the time to review this story :D I hope I can keep this all up to your expectations. I would like you all to know that I found this au when I was looking at writing prompts, I simply put it into a story. I hope you enjoyed, please feel free to favorite, follow, and review!**

 **Thank you for reading!**


	4. Chapter 2,5

**Chapter 2.5**

The dreams quickly became more and more blurred, adding to Victor's confusion already caused by the language barrier. It wasn't as though the dreams were completely blurred to the point where shapes couldn't be made out, but more like looking through fogged glass. The colors and shapes were still there but all definition of features was lost.

It started off minimally, just hard for Victor to clearly see some of the further away details. Though the characters in the language still made no sense to him, so it didn't completely matter.

Finally after a while the dreams were crystal clear once again. But, every beginning of his dreams Victor noticed his soulmate pick up a pair of glasses from the table next to them.

* * *

 **So my precious s/cinnamon roll Yuuri's birthday is today, I really wanted to post something because of this. By the time I realized that his birthday fell on today I didn't have enough time to write an actual short story to celebrate. Although I do promise one for Victor's birthday/Christmas. I love writing Christmas things :D But I already had this written so that's why I'm posting it. It's just a simple filler part. I may post the third chapter. I'm writing this before I decide :) But again feel free to favorite, follow, and review! Thank you for reading!**


	5. Chapter 3

**Who's Victor Nikiforov's Special Someone?!**

 **From** _ **Teen Gossip**_

 **By: Liliya Kalinina**

Welcome back girls, to another segment from _Teen Gossip_! Liliya here again with yet another article on our wonderful figure skating heartthrob, Victor Nikiforov!

As he's been gaining popularity more and more people have been inquiring, who is Victor's soulmate? As _everyone_ knows in this world, you dream what you're soulmate is seeing and vice versa for them. It's honestly quite an intriguing premise!

Many reporters and interviewers are attempting to get Victor to spill some details about his special someone. Sadly for those of us who want to know he isn't divulging too much.

But I can't stop there leaving all of you wonderful readers hanging! I've been doing some digging and attempted to get an interview with the heartthrob himself- which I achieved!

In my research I've found that he's divulged a couple of consistent pieces of information with the press. Many of these were found from smaller, independent reporters and interviewers. So I have a feeling only you diehard fans know some of this information. You can test your knowledge of the handsome, silver haired skater!

First and foremost, many of us already know, Victor has yet to completely figure out who his soulmate is. Meaning that he's still looking.

It's been able to be pulled out of him that his soulmate is NOT in the country of Russia! Aww I feel like I can hear many of your hearts breaking. I feel bad now! But moving forward, he's also said that it's such a coincidence that his soulmate also enjoys the sport of figure skating. Hmmmm, I wonder if he means professionally or recreationally?

As I mentioned before I was able to score another interview with Victor! He's always such a joy to talk to, his answers are all very sincere. I've included it as well as pictures below! Enjoy!

 **Liliya-** Welcome Victor! Thank you for allowing me to interview you for another article for _Teen Gossip._

 **Victor-** Thank you for having me again Liliya. Have I ever told you how pretty your name is?

 **L-** No I don't believe so, thank you though. So Victor, your fans and I have some questions for you.

 **V-** What are you curious about? I love to help with your articles.

 **L-** I'm sure you know that many of us are interested to know: who is the lucky lady? Who's your soulmate?!

 _At my words he seems to avert his gaze before answering._

 **V-** Like I've told many others I'm still trying to figure out who it is. Skating has become my main focus, I've had to put the whole soulmate searching thing to the side.

 **L-** Well that makes sense. But on the topic of skating, you've previously said that you're pretty sure that your soulmate enjoys skating as well?

 **V-** _He nods before continuing._

Yeah, especially when we were both younger. My dreams were constantly filled with skating. You'd think it was my own dreams if the world didn't work like it does.

 _He laughed at his own words_

 **L-** That sounds wonderful, to already have that in common. Were there any times that they would attempt to copy your routines?

 **V-** Definitely! They actually had a friend who would show them my routine and help them learn it. It was cute to watch it. Those dreams were always my favorite.

 **L-** Oops! Looks like our time is already almost up! I'm sorry this had to be a short interview. But are there any other bits you'd be willing to tell me and my readers?

 **V-** Just for you I'll disclose some stuff I've found out.

 _He begins to count off on his fingers as he lists the attributes._

They either have really dark brown or black hair, I'm pretty sure they wear glasses because I think they've become sort of blind. Um... they're not living in Russia, although most of you know that. The last thing I'll tell you is that I'm pretty sure they're a big fan of mine. It's a bit weird to think that honestly. By the way, can I add something for the readers?

 **L-** Sure! What do you want to say?

 **V-** If you're reading this and you're sure that you're my soulmate, be assured that I will look for you. I will do my best to win your heart when I finally meet you.

Maybe it's one of you lucky readers out there? Do your dreams line up with the life of Victor Nikiforov?

* * *

 **Twitter**

 **SkatingGurl1**

Hey UmItsMe did you hear about Victor's newest interview?!

 **UmItsMe**

SkatingGurl1 The one from Teen Gossip?

 **SkatingGurl1**

UmItsMe Of course! Doesn't it sound a little bit like you?!

 **UmItsMe**

SkaktingGurl1 You're crazy. It's not me, there's no way. You know I gave up on the whole thing a while ago anyway.

 **SkatingGurl1**

UmItsMe Uh huh sure. I don't know why though. I'm telling you, it sounds like you!

* * *

 **Soulmates Not Always Wanted**

 **From** _ **Trending Today**_

 **By:Meredith Gray**

Many people may be on the edge of their seat attempting to figure out who their soulmate is. Who they're meant to be with. But that's not always the case, as seen with a pair of soulmates from a small town in Canada.

Ruby Nat was absolutely sure that she found her soulmate, John Carleton. They both had been long time friends. Nat had put together everything she could and figured that Carleton was her soulmate.

When she approached him one day his response could only be described as lackluster. When Nat told him, Carleton turned her down. He said that he didn't want to be with his soulmate for the fact that there were others around the world who would never be able to find their own. He didn't feel like he was worthy to be one of the few who was able to be with their soulmate.

It's not always the best turn out for those who find their soulmate. It's not always a fairy tale ending.

* * *

"Victor!"

"Yes mama?" Victor stuck his head out of the kitchen door to look at his mother sitting in the living room. His silver hair fell past his shoulders and partially down his back. The 15- almost 16- year old had it tied back in a ponytail as he tidied the kitchen for his mother.

"Can you please clean up your room when you're done?" She looked up from her magazine in her hands. "It's become a bit of a mess."

"You've been in my room?"

"No. I can see the mess when I walk by."

"Alright I'll clean it." With a slight smile Victor ducked back into the kitchen calling out shortly after, "I'm almost done."

"Thank you!"

~oO0Oo~

After finishing cleaning the kitchen Victor ran up to his room, a smaller, younger poodle puppy at his heels. Upon reaching his room the puppy jumped onto his bed.

"Oh Makkachin you want to help me clean?"

Makkachin simply replied with a small bark, making Victor laugh as he started to gather papers from his desk. He sat down next to Makkachin, setting the papers in front of him and spreading them out.

One of which specifically caught his attention. It seemed vaguely familiar, but he could tell that it wasn't current school work or even his current hand writing. It looked like something he wrote when he was younger.

He pulled it out of the pile, a smile forming on his face as he read down the page.

 _Notes about my soulmate_

 _-They have black hair_

 _-First grade?_

 _-Doesn't speak Russian_

 _-Has a girl friend who has brown hair_

 _-Lives in a place like a hot spring?_

 _-Has an ice skating rink in their town_

 _-Different types of buildings_

 _-A fan of mine! :)_

 _-Likes this noodle bowl thing?_

 _-The language is either Chinese, Japanese, or Korean_

 _-Wears glasses_

"I remember this," Victor mumbled to himself. Figuring out who his soulmate is, was such a big thing to him when he was younger. It still would be if he didn't have to put it on the backburner as he focused more heavily on his skating- becoming one of the top skaters in the world.

"I still wonder who you are, where you are. I did say I'd look for you," He turned to the puppy sitting next to him, "Would you come with me when I find my soulmate?"

Makkachin looked up, eyes big, with a look that almost said 'I'll go anywhere with you.'

"Of course you would," He rubbed the top of Makkachin's head.

His face fell when he realized something that wasn't written on this piece of paper. There was a line that looked like he had previously planned to write something there but stopped himself. Everything came flooding back, the dreams that made him start this list, what he pushed to the back of his mind, everything he learned about his soulmate.

"Oh yeah.." Victor trailed off. He realized from a young age that his soulmate was another boy. Not that he had an issue with being matched up with someone of the same gender, no it didn't bother _him_ in the slightest. But it bothered the whole of Russia.

Whenever he was asked by his parents to describe his soulmate he wouldn't use personality traits of his actual soulmate, but use physical characteristics of their friend.

He never felt right doing that, but he thought it would be for the best. According to Russia he was supposed to be matched with a girl, so in the end describing what he could about an actual girl seemed easier than trying to make a boy sound feminine.

Although he constantly hoped that he wouldn't slip up and say something that he wasn't supposed to know. Such as the color of her eyes.

* * *

"Yukko.." Victor's soulmate whined as he looked at the phone in his hands. "Stop tweeting me about this nonsense."

On his screen it appeared that he was talking to his friend over Twitter. Victor attempted to make a mental note as to what the characters of the language looked like so he could finally figure out if it was indeed Chinese, Japanese, or Korean. Although he was almost completely sure it wasn't the latter.

His soulmate's eyes focused on the ceiling above him as he laid the phone next to his side on the bed.

"I gave up on the system a while ago, it can't be right." He turned his head letting his eyes fall on the posters on his walls. Victor immediately recognized them as himself.

His soulmate's hand settled on the bottom corner of the one closest to him. "There's no way that I'm matched with Victor. It can't be. He's so cool, and I'm just _me_."

The full impact of the words completely flew over Victor's head. The word's his soulmate were simply sounds with no meaning he knew.

His phone buzzed next to him to alert him that Yukko was not going to leave him alone or give up anytime soon. He picked up the phone, silenced it and sat up in his bed.

"I'm going skating," He quietly murmured to himself. "Wait." He stopped and sat straight looking at the sun illuminated window. "Yukko will probably be there and then she really won't leave me alone."

He fell back onto his bed letting out a loud groan - the only thing Victor was sure he knew the meaning of. His soulmate was clearly exasperated about something. That something he wasn't quite sure about though.

"It has to be wrong."

* * *

 **So I did decide to post this chapter as well. Hope it sort of makes up for the shortness of the last one. Anyway I hope you all are enjoying this story :) I am so blown away by the reception that I have gotten for this story. Again this story has been betaed by sandypenguin6! She's wonderful :)**

 **On a side note, to the reader who reviews this story in Spanish. Thank you for your kind words! I would have contacted you through private messaging like the others if your messages were from an account, but since they aren't I'm thanking you here and now! I know very very very basic Spanish, not even, so I've had to translate your messages to understand them. But thank you again!**

 **Thank you everyone for reading my story! Please feel free to review, favorite, and follow. As well as to continue to pray for Makkachin until tomorrow's episode! If the dog dies we riot!**


	6. Chapter 3,5

Chapter 3.5

Victor watched the trees blur on the sides of his vision as his soulmate ran towards the skating rink, a small poodle in his arms.

"Yukko! Yukko!" His soulmate called out - in Japanese, as Victor recently found out - as he opened the double doors. The brown-haired girl lifted her head from what she was looking at on the counter.

"Oh -! What's up?" She tilted her head as she smiled.

"Come here!" He let the door close as he stepped out of the way.

It was muffled by the doors but it was clear that Yukko responded, "I'll be right there!"

Through the foggy glass of the door Victor watched as her form moved from the counter in front of the racks of states to the doors where his soulmate stood.

"Look at who we just adopted!"

Yukko's face lit up looking at the dog in his soulmate's arms. A smile spread across her face.

"You got a poodle like Victor!"

There was his name again. Victor never expected that his soulmate would be this much of a fan of his, bordering almost on an obsession.

His soulmate chuckled while scratching the back of his neck, "I kind of named him Victor and call him Vicchan."

"You're such a dork -," Yukko tousled his hair a smile still on her face.

The dog reminded Victor of his own Makkachin. He was left wondering what his soulmate named _their_ dog.

* * *

 **Once again I present you all a short chapter. I'm a little sorry about that! I hope this kind of holds you guys over until chapter 4 is published, I finished it today but will wait a little bit to post it after I write some of chapter 5. Again thank you guys so much for the support! Over 200 follows? It's amazing :D Once again this was betaed by sabdypenguin6. (Episode 10 was amazing by the way!)**

 **Feel free to favorite, follow and review!**


	7. Chapter 4

"And in first place: Victor Nikiforov!" The announcer finished over the loudspeakers.

Victor smiled as he held up the gold medal around his neck. A blue rose flower crown adorned his silver hair, which was pulled back in a long ponytail. He stood on the ice in front of his other competitors who placed second and third.

Cameras flashed from every angle to capture all of the winners on the ice. Russia's national anthem began to quietly play in the background, to congratulate the Russian teen who came in first place.

After a couple minutes of cameras flashing, the lights receded, allowing the skaters time to exit the ice. On his way off the ice Victor was handed an armful of light red roses.

"Thank you," Victor smiled at the person who filled his arms with the flowers. He held the bouquet in one arm as he skated off the ice, waving to the cheering crowds.

Victor's first year in the senior division was going very well, although no one had doubted it after seeing what he was capable of when he was younger.

The 16 year old placed a hand on the boards as he stepped off to the ice. A young voice calling out his name brought his attention up to the stands.

"Victor!"

A large smile spread across his face when he looked up. The voice belonged to a child who was at least a couple years younger than him.

Victor waved to the young blond kid who sat up in the stands. "Hi! What's your name?"

"Chris!" The young boy responded.

"Well Chris," Victor gently grabbed a flower from his arms as he responded. He held up the flower as he continued, "I'll see you at World's!" As he finished, Victor gently tossed the rose up in the stands. Chris eagerly caught it, his face lit up with happiness.

"Definitely!" The blond smiled and nodded enthusiastically as he held the rose to his chest.

Victor sent one more wave to Chris before he had to leave the rink. He stood at the doorway for a minute to send a couple kisses to the crowd before waving a last time and walking through the door.

~oO0Oo~

The room which Victor stepped into was dimly lit from the slight natural light coming in through the partially covered window. He flipped the switch next to the door, fully illuminating the room that had been assigned to him.

With a sigh, Victor sat down on the chair in front of the table and mirror. The pile of light red roses now rested on the table in front of him. The silver-haired teen looked at his reflection for a minute, admiring the blue roses on his head while turning it in different directions to see the different angles of the flower crown.

Finally, Victor gingerly lifted the crown off of his head and next to the pile of roses.

Once again he let out a sigh, pulling his hair out of the ponytail, the long strands falling down his back and over his shoulders. Victor pushed the hair out of his face and behind his ear to keep it out of the way.

"I wonder if _he_ was watching today," Victor murmured to himself looking around the room for nothing in particular.

Victor leaned back in his chair, his hair falling down his back. Again he ran his hands through his silver hair, closest to his face.

"If he was, I hope he enjoyed my performance. I'll have to choreograph something at some point to tell this story."

Victor pulled his hair over his shoulder and absentmindedly began to braid it while pondering new program choreographies he could come up with.

* * *

Victor's dreams awoke to his soulmate running out of his house and to his friend, Yukko's home.

She was waiting for him, as her parents welcomed him in.

"Come in -!" She called out from the doorway.

"Coming!" He ran inside, quickly taking off his shoes before Yukko guided him into the house to show him what was on the TV.

The screen was paused on what Victor assumed was a skating competition. Yukko quickly started up the program, subtitles in their native language showing up with voice over announcements. The language Victor previously deduced was indeed Japanese.

The video started up and Victor immediately recognized the music as the one he skated to the day before, and won with.

Victor smiled on the inside when he realized that, yes, his soulmate was watching his performance. And apparently very excited about it, judging by the look on the girl's face as they both gushed over the performance.

"He's so cool, Yukko!" Victor's soulmate gazed at the TV as they both sat down on the floor to watch.

Even without knowing a bit of Japanese, Victor was still able to understand the excitement in their voices. He found it adorable, these two kids who themselves loved the sport of ice skating but at the same time idolized him.

"And with that, Victor Nikiforov jumps into 1st place!" The voice-over in Japanese rang out over the television as Victor sat in the kiss and cry with his coach to receive his score.

Victor recognized his voice, which played quietly from the TV. "Yes!" He smiled wide at first before his coach began to tell him what he could have done to made his program better.

"Awwwwww it was amazing! Why can't Yakov just let him be happy?" Yukko sighed as she leaned against Yuuri.

Victor was surprised to hear that they knew his coach's name, but then again it was in the news along with his name constantly. In articles with lines stating things like ' _Victor Nikiforov and his coach, Yakov'._

The two kids continued to watch the rest of the performances of the competition in awe of everyone, but none of them excited them like Victor's performance. None of the competitors were able to beat Victor's score - some came close but it wasn't enough, keeping him in 1st place.

* * *

 **Here's the next chapter for all of you who were waiting patiently (and for those who were waiting less patiently, I see you :D) I hope you all enjoyed this :) Once again this was betaed by sandypenguin6, I swear she's amazing. How she puts up with some of my grammatical errors still amazes me. But you guys probably don't care about that stuff! I'm going to say this now, in the following chapter a certain reporter from one of the past chapters will be coming back for a short time, remember those articles that were at the beginning of a chapter? Yep, that's gonna happen. But I would like to say thank you to all of you that take the time to read this story and especially those of you who review it. It's amazing, this is actually one of the top stories in the Yuri On Ice category on this website whether you sort by follows, favorites, or reviews. This just blows my mind. You all are amazing. I love how my story creates questions for you guys. Hopefully they will all be answered at some point in the story! But until then I hope you all continue to read and enjoy this story. Once again, feel free to favorite, follow, and review!**

 **Ps. All of you guys who review, I smile at every single one. I also will reread them when I need some motivation. You guys play a bigger part in this story and its writing than I think you realize.**

 **I probably won't update this story before the holidays, so happy holidays no matter what you celebrate, and for students- I hope you guys have a good break. I know I'll be writing during mine :)**


	8. Chapter 5

Victor stood in the middle of the ice, holding the finishing pose of his current routine. His breathing heavy. After a minute or so of standing there, Victor skated over to the edge of the rink to grab the water bottle that was sitting on the boards.

"Victor!" a voice called from the other side of the rink.

"Hmm?" His attention turned to his coach standing in the doorway. "Yeah, Yakov?"

"There's this girl here who says she wants to interview you," his coach explained as a female head popped around the corner of the door and began to speak.

"Remember? It's me Liliya from Teen Gossip! You used to let us interview you all th-" She was cut off by Yakov.

"Yes yes she's here to interview you. Five minutes Victor, then I want you back here." Yakov's voice was stern.

"But sir, I can barely get anything during that time."

"THIS IS THE BEGINNING OF THE COMPETITIVE SEASON AND YOU THINK ANY OF THESE SKATERS CAN AFFORD TO TAKE A BREAK FOR AN _INTERVIEW?"_ Yakov yelled as he aggressively motioned towards all his students in the room. He attempted to regain his composure, muttering through clenched teeth. "Ten minutes. No more, and then I want you-" he pointed at Victor, "-back in here continuing to practice."

"Alright!" Victor smiled as he put his covers onto his skates and rushed over to Liliya. "I'll be back, Yakov."

He pulled his long silver hair over his shoulder when he came to a stop in front of her. Placing a hand on her arm, Victor guided her to a hallway outside of the rink. "Will here do?"

"Yep this works." Liliya smiled as she pulled her notepad and pencil as if to take notes. She quickly glanced around her to make sure no one else was in the vicinity. "Glad no one's around," she muttered under her breath.

"What was that?" Victor inquired, only hearing that Liliya had muttered something.

"Oh nothing," She smirked pulling her hair out of the ponytail it was in. "Do you really want to answer questions or something else? Something more _fun?_ " She attempted to flirt and pushed Victor's silver hair out of his face.

Victor's countenance immediately gained a look of immense disgust.

Liliya placed her hands on Victor's chest as she continued to push the situation. "Come on, Vitya~"

Victor placed his hands on her shoulders pushing her an arms' length away from him. "Do. Not. Call. Me. That." He said through gritted teeth, his words filled with detestation.

"What's wrong?" Liliya filled her voice with a sense of innocence, as if to try and get away with the situation.

"You know exactly what's wrong," The 22-year-old skater looked disgustedly at the 24-year-old reporter.

"I know you aren't one of the people who didn't get with anyone because of the whole soulmate thing."

"You're right, I've had _many_ lovers. But you will not be one of them."

"Bu-" Liliya went to continue speaking but Victor stopped her quickly.

"No. You're letting me talk. It was when I was younger and I regret all of it. I needed that feeling of love."

"I could provide you with that love," Liliya attempted to bring herself back into a positive light.

Victor pushed her away and began walking back to the rink as he called back over his shoulder, "No. No you couldn't. You have your own soulmate. Let me find mine."

Liliya stood there bringing up her pen and paper as she muttered under her breath, "I'll definitely have a story from this. Thank you Victor," she finished, malice in her voice.

* * *

That night Victor fell asleep in his bed, disgusted at the events during the day. His practice was filled with annoyance. As much as he attempted to hide it with a smile, it still showed through his program. Yakov, who knew him too well, told him to just leave (albeit after some yelling about not performing at his best).

At that moment, all Victor wanted was to see something from his soulmate; anything they were doing would suffice. It would lift his spirits, make him happy, and possibly allow him to forget that day's events even if just for a little bit.

Victor smiled as he once again heard his soulmate's voice, it had quickly become a lovely sound to his ears. Everyday he grew impatient to the day that he would finally meet him.

Only today - or tonight to Victor - his soulmate wasn't staying in the small town in Japan. It appeared that he was leaving, heading somewhere different.

Completely different.

His soulmate's family had driven him to what appeared to be an airport. Yes, Victor decided, it was indeed an airport - the giant planes gave it away.

The airport was a fairly long way away from his small hometown.

But once they made it to the airport, his soulmate's family quickly found where he was supposed to wait for his plane.

In the waiting area there were multiple signs that read 'Detroit' as their destination.

Victor's soulmate's family began to gather around him wishing him well and a safe trip in Japanese, as well as his mother saying how much she was going to miss him.

"I'll miss you guys too," His soulmate answered his family. "I'll practice hard for all of you."

"You better! I don't want those years of dance to go to waste!" A long haired brunette joked with him. She smiled and laughed, pulling a laugh out of his soulmate.

"Of course, Minako," He replied, laughing with her.

Victor - still not understanding any Japanese - just enjoyed watching this exchange between a happy family. Although he was wondering why his soulmate was leaving Japan to head to another country as as it appeared.

~oO0Oo~

After his soulmate arrived at their destination Victor started to recognize more of the words, as they were in English. Victor understood the majority of the words, only missing a couple here and there.

Victor had to learn English for his travels for skating. In many places, people communicated in English instead of attempting to communicate through two completely different languages. Say Russian and Japanese.

After his soulmate got off the plane and went to receive the rest of his luggage, he made his way to where everyone gathered to meet relatives. He appeared to be looking for someone - who that someone was Victor didn't know.

He was looking around, bombarded with English conversations all around him until two voices grabbed his attention.

"-! Over here!" He looked up to see two people, one being a young Thai boy who was waving and yelling over to him.

The other was a man who held a sign that read in English, "Welcome to Detroit, -!" The last part was blurred to Victor, he could only guess that it was his soulmate's name.

His soulmate rushed over to where these two stood, dragging his suitcase behind him.

The Thai boy quickly pulled him into a hug, his soulmate was surprised but not unwilling.

The man who stood next to them let out a loud laugh at the two teens. "Phichit, let him get his bearings," the man grinned as he talked in fluent English.

"Sorry -," Phichit let go of Victor's soulmate, a sheepish smile on his face. "I was just excited to meet you! I finally get a roommate," He also spoke in English, a slight accent on his words.

"Yeah, this is Phichit." The man wrapped his arm around the Thai boy's shoulders, "He'll be your roommate. He wanted to meet you with me." He laughed again.

His soulmate smiled, "I'm glad to meet you Phichit. And you too Celestino." His English was a little broken - probably from not talking in it too much. But it had a slight Japanese accent to it. It made it all the cuter.

Victor smiled to himself as he heard his soulmate's voice in English. He was finally able to understand the words to some degree.

* * *

 **Heads up really long author's note!**

 **Let me address this- No we will not get anything from Yuuri's point of you. This is written from Victor's. Please everyone stop asking :) Also there is no set update schedule! I update whenever I finish a chapter :D**

 **The season finale has kind of killed me... I loved it soooooo much. It was beautiful, if you haven't seen it go watch it. I'm still pretty emotional- screencaps are making me tear up D': In a good way though! I love this show so much.**

 **You all have to kind of make me a promise though. You ready to see what I'm going to ask you guys? I'm not going to ask you to sell your soul I promise! Please please please, stay with me and all of us in the fandom. Just because the season has finished I don't want to see this fandom go on a hiatus until the next season. This fandom is filled with amazing creators, and to those who don't create but instead read and look at our creations. This is an amazing fandom, and I love you all so much. Every single one of you. Anyone who takes the time to read this story, review, favorite, follow, anything! I love all of you so so so much!**

 **Also there will be a holiday chapter posted on Christmas eve or Christmas day! I'd like it to be known that in the holiday chapter there won't be any interaction, but we will come back to the subject later in the story. Also you can thank one of your fellow readers who reviewed asking if there was going to be a holiday chapter. I hadn't thought about it until their review! If you're looking forward to that, thank them :D**

 **Thank you once again for reading my story! I hope you guys didn't mind that I brought back a character who was slightly mentioned in an earlier chapter. Also do not try and tell me that Phichit did not come to pick up Yuuri at the airport.**

 **Really long author's note, I'm sorry! But thank you again, again for reading! Feel free to follow, favorite, and review! I hope you all continue to enjoy my writing!**

 **This couldn't be accomplished without you all and my wonderful beta reader sandypenguin6!**


	9. Chapter 6

**Dirt On Victor Nikiforov:**

 **From** _ **Teen Gossip**_

 **Author: Liliya Kalinina**

 _Ladies, it's Liliya again and I'm here with some news that you may or may not want to hear! Whether or not you want to hear it depends on if you're a fan of the famed Russian skater Victor Nikiforov._

 _Now I know at this point many of you are sitting there, or standing (I won't judge if you read a magazine standing up), looking at this article confused as to whatever I could mean, and boy do I have quite a story for you. If you're a long time follower of my articles in this magazine, or even if you're not, you most likely know how I used to interview Victor Nikiforov quite a bit._

 _Usually these interviews were in reference to soulmates - his in particular. As you all, the readers, were constantly asking for more and more about our rising skating star. It was usually a happy interview and Victor could almost always be quoted saying something along the lines about how he was actively looking for his soulmate._

 _How many of us actually believed that though? He's the top figure skater in Russia, as well as the entire world, and we're supposed to believe that he was able to take a break and search for his soulmate. Of course not._

 _Did anyone believe that he was waiting to find his soulmate before engaging in more 'intimate' acts? Most likely not. At least most of us didn't._

 _I went to get a simple interview with Victor once again, as I had many times before. When I was asking him one of my questions, he simply became angry at me for basically no reason. Whenever I would attempt to speak to calm him down all he did was cut me off._

 _During his angry outburst at one point he almost told me to shut up and let him talk. Now, this doesn't seem like the Victor we all know and love. But aside from the unwarranted angry outbursts, while he was talking he said something interesting relating to what I said above._

 _Victor blurted out that in fact he has had many lovers. I put emphasis on the word ma-_

Victor's eyes barely reached the second reiteration of the word "many" before his glare shot up to Yakov who was sitting across from him. His coach had angrily slammed the magazine down on the table, plainly telling him to read the article that the magazine was open to.

The skater obliged, picking up the magazine to read the mentioned article. As he continued down the page he had to do everything in his power to not rip the magazine in half.

"Mila ran in to show this to me this morning. Want to explain?" Yakov stated with annoyance and slight anger in his voice. He stared Victor down from across the table they were sitting at, his arms were crossed in front of his chest.

A quiet growl escaped Victor's mouth as he continued to glare at this disgrace of an article in front of him.

"This is from when she came in months ago I assume?" The sound of annoyance not leaving Yakov's voice for even a second as he continued to question the skater in front of him.

"Yes." Victor's voice was low and was also laced with annoyance and anger. He was angry at both himself and the reporter who decided to write this. Inside Victor began beating himself up over the fact that he didn't watch his tongue like he learned to so long ago when he was talking to her. This was his fault. He knew it.

"Explain why and how this happened." Yakov continued to lay into Victor, ultimately just wanting to get an answer out of him. This type of negative article in the media could drastically affect the skater's career if he wasn't careful. Something he already proved that he hadn't been.

Earlier that morning, when she ran in with the article, Mila assured Yakov that this magazine wasn't one of the overly popular ones. It had a following, but the news wouldn't immediately spread like wildfire.

"I was going to answer her questions. I swear I was. But she didn't come here for questions, Yakov. It's all a lie. She's lying in her article. I didn't just start angrily yelling at her without anything to provoke me." Victor placed his face in his hands and let out a loud exasperated groan at what he would call his own stupidity. He silently cursed himself.

'"Vitya," Yakov sighed. Victor barely looked up from his hands but it was enough for Yakov to continue what he was going to say. "I really want to yell at you right now. I do," Victor chuckled at the thought of Yakov not yelling at him. Yakov just sent him a glare that brought him to a stop. "But your birthday's tomorrow. Go rest, I'll figure this out." Yakov let out a deep sigh as he finished, "Victor you will never do this again, or your career will most likely fall right out of your grasp."

~oO0Oo~

The following day Victor had to drag himself out of his bed and plaster a smile on his face. He never wanted this whole article problem to affect him to the degree that it had. No matter what he felt, inside he knew that once he was in the public eye again he'd have to be the happy skater everyone knew and loved.

Anything at this point could become an issue. Of course, being positive was the only thing Victor could think of that could possibly bring this conflict to an end. Although Yakov did say he would take care of it, the question was how long that would take.

It didn't help him that today was his birthday. Another birthday, another year closer to retirement from the sport he loved so much. The sport that he dedicated his entire life, entire being to. Victor sighed as he tamed his unruly hair with his fingers, he decided that he should probably cut the long locks at some point coming up.

Although he was only 22, 23 later that day, retirement came up fairly quickly for figure skaters. Their beloved sport was beyond taxing on all of their bodies.

Victor stared at himself in his bathroom mirror for a minute before he was cut off by a knock at the door followed by a female voice calling his name.

The skater let out an audible sigh as he walked towards the door to open it. On the other side of the door stood a portion of the Russian skating team, Mila, Georgi, and their coach Yakov.

Mila and Georgi were the most energetic out of the group, both holding presents in their outstretched hands. Yakov stood off to the side, his arms crossed against his chest looking as though he was dragged here against his will, the party hat on his head made Victor smile a little. It didn't fit the tough persona his coach always assumed.

"Happy birthday, Victor!" Mila and Georgi said in unison as they held their gifts out farther for their fellow skater. "And a Merry Christmas!" Mila added in a sing-song like voice.

Victor smiled as he tilted his head to the side slightly. This was a welcome surprise for him. "Thank you, both of you. Don't be strangers, come in."

"Can we?" The young red haired girl's eyes widened at the idea. Georgi gently nudged her in the side with his elbow in a joking manner.

"Why not?" Victor smiled at the both of them, chuckling at the stars still in Mila's eyes. "Feel free to make yourselves at home, you caught me just after I woke up," Victor continued as he led the three of them into his apartment.

"We wanted to know if you wanted to come to the Christmas party today," Georgi turned to look at the long haired skater after setting the gift he was holding onto the table.

"Sure, it sounds fun," Victor smiled as he reached for some clothes out of his drawer. "I'll go get ready."

A Christmas party would be a perfect opportunity to just possibly turn his day around. Although it had just begun, Victor could already guess that he would need some more cheer that day.

* * *

"Come on! Let's go celebrate!" Victor watched as his soulmate was pulled around by his new roommate, Phichit. The conversations they shared became a lot funnier to Victor who now could understand their English.

"Phichit slow down!" His soulmate cried out as he struggled to keep up with his friend.

"Never! We are going to celebrate your first Christmas in America!"

His soulmate groaned as he gave in and ran with Phichit to wherever their destination was to be.

~oO0Oo~

Once Phichit stopped running they both were slightly panting as they attempted to catch their breath. Phichit was the first to stand up straight once again and start talking. "Didn't you say that in Japan Christmas is celebrated as a lover's holiday?"

"Uh huh," He replied nodding his head as well.

"Wouldn't it be amazing to be able to celebrate it like that with your soulmate?" Phichit placed his hands over his heart as he continued in an almost dreamlike state, "Going to view all the beautiful lights, walking down the streets, kisses under the mistletoe, hugs by the fireplace." He happily sighed, "That sounds wonderful. Hey - you never told me if you found your soulmate!"

Victor's heart jumped slightly at the English words. He was the soulmate that the Thai boy was referring to. He figured his soulmate easily would have figured out that _the_ Victor Nikiforov was his soulmate. Especially considering that his own soulmate was not only a fan of figure skating but also specifically a fan of his. Now would be the moment when he would finally hear whether or not he was correct.

"Oh, I guess I never did," His soulmate chuckled a little as he scratched the nape of his neck. "I honestly think I got matched wrong. It can't be right. What was it that you wanted to show me again?"

Although his soulmate's final statement was enough to change Phichit's focus to the Christmas lights that apparently everyone just _had_ to see, they weren't enough for Victor to change thoughts. No. His thoughts were still on the statement that he understood as clear as day, his soulmate didn't believe that he should be matched with Victor.

That moment, while watching his soulmate stand in awe of the amazing lights, Victor vowed to find his soulmate and win his heart. He could tell just simply from these dreams that he would fall in love with this other boy the moment he met him. Victor could only hope the same thing would happen when his soulmate met him and realized that his fears were irrational. The probability that someone had been matched wrong was classified close to none. Not that there weren't anomalies, there were plenty of those.

Victor decided that his Christmas wish was to win the heart of his soulmate when they finally met.

* * *

 **Ahhhh don't hate me! I'm sorry for the slightly angsty holiday chapter! It just happened D: Here's the thing, some of you wanted to see what our favorite reporter would write so it happened! Also Victor kind of hates his birthday because he would have to start thinking about retiring. You guys wanted a holiday chapter, and I obliged like I said I would. Although I never said that it would be a happy holiday chapter, now did I? No I didn't :P But try and keep this in mind as we just may come back to this topic later in the story! I'm planning on having at least 9 more updates for this story, but there will probably be more for the fact that there may be some extras that I want to write ;) I hope you all have a good holiday! Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or anything else! I personally celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas :D Remember I love you all so much! Thank you to everyone who favorites, follows, reviews, and reads this story!**

 **Also happy birthday to our wonderful Victor Nikiforov!**

 **See you guys next update! As always this story is betaed by sandypenguin6!**


	10. Chapter 7

' _I'm calling out to you, please come and_ stay close to me' Victor thought to himself as he finished his practice for the program he planned to use at the upcoming Grand Prix. He choreographed the program to the song ' _Stay Close To Me'_ , a song that is full of longing.

A yearning, a longing of wanting to find a lover with whom to stay close.

This. This was the program Victor planned on choreographing the day he won gold so many years ago, the day when he met Chris as someone who looked up to him. Now he was competition - someone wishing to steal his winning streak out from under him.

This choreography contained all that Victor wanted to say through skating. He wished that his soulmate would be watching the Grand Prix. Finally, he had choreographed the program he had planned for years. And he was going to perfect it. No matter the performance difficulty.

He was surprising the audience, one of his top priorities when he was skating.

But only he would know the complete story he planned behind every jump, every step sequence, every movement in the program. The audience could attempt to figure out his specific story. Some may come close, others miss the mark completely. That was the thing, skating was interpreted differently by each viewer.

Inside Victor hoped, no he _pleaded_ , for his soulmate to watch and understand the message in his movements. What others thought the story was didn't matter, what mattered was that _he_ heard Victor's message.

That was the point, the reason why he made the routine the way he did. For that one person; hoping, pleading, longing for him to find Victor. Or Victor to find him. He wished for exactly what the song describes, his soulmate to come and stay close to him.

~oO0Oo~

"That's was beautiful, Victor!" Mila greeted him as he stepped off the ice and back onto regular ground. He placed his covers back on his skates as he took a break to allow the other skaters to use the entire rink. Everyone had paused their practice to watch Victor run through his entire routine.

"Thanks, Mila," Victor smiled as he slipped off into his own thoughts once again, easily ignoring the world around him as he leaned against the boards.

There were parts of his program that he knew for certain that he would have to clean up and polish. But most of it just felt _right._ As though this was exactly what he was supposed to be doing at this exact moment in his life.

This program full of longing seemed to be the perfect collection of everything Victor decided that he was indeed feeling. Everyday he longed for the moment when he would finally get to meet his raven-haired soulmate. Every dream was another interesting piece of the puzzle of his soulmate's life that he was determined to put together.

Victor couldn't deny to himself that, yes, he was indeed lonely without affection from another person. Something more than a simple hug between friends. The more intimate side, the hugs that each person would simply fill with all of their emotions that they were feeling. Victor quickly figured that it would take him a while to find his soulmate. And while he did want to find them, and only them, the absence of the affection he needed in his life finally came crashing down full force.

Being so intensely focused on his skating, Victor had to push some family away, as he became further and further distanced from his parents. Soon his only family, or at least people he was close enough to consider them family, became Yakov and a couple of his rinkmates.

This is why this program was so important to Victor. He put a lot of faith in this program; that it would call out to his soulmate, who currently took up residence in Detroit, apparently pursuing skating as a career. Although he wasn't the best with jumps, some a complete and utter mess, his step sequences made up for it. Victor saw plenty of potential in the skating he witnessed every night. Every fall he witnessed from his soulmate's eyes made him wince.

Victor also was constantly amused by his soulmate's new Thai friend, Phichit. The younger boy was excited by almost anything. There was also the fact that he was basically attached to his phone, and the social media on there. Not that Victor wasn't as well, but definitely not to the degree of the younger boy. The amount of selfies he took made Victor laugh constantly. Even thinking about it now made him laugh, jolting him out of his daydreaming and drifting thoughts.

Multiple gazes from around the rink, mostly those who were already fairly close to where Victor stood, turned towards him at his random outburst of laughter. Multiple skaters turned to each other with looks on their face of 'What's so funny?' and 'Did I miss something?'. No one's questions were answered but instead grew when Victor left the rink covering his mouth to hide the smile on his face and his continuing laughter. A minute was how long most people stood staring at the door where the famed skater left abruptly. Most supplied themselves answers to what happened, many of which were simply that he was taking a break. It was indeed a weird exit but everyone just shrugged it off and went on to continue practicing.

* * *

"- that was absolutely amazing!" Phichit called and waved from the other side of the rink, beckoning his friend over to the edge.

His soulmate easily glided over the ice to lean against the boards, looking at his friend. "You really think so? There's still a lot that I have to clean up though." He let out a sigh, clearly bringing himself down.

"Well yeah, but everyone has that to begin with! I bet you even Victor isn't perfect the first time he practices a program," Phichit pointed out, earning a smile from the other boy. Victor's heart jumped slightly at the mention of his name, but Phichit was right; he wasn't perfect when he first begins a new program.

"Speaking of Victor," Phichit continued as his friend made his way off the ice and to a bench to unlace his skates. "I bet you, when you completely iron out this program, you'll be able to get on the podium with him at the Grand Prix!"

If Victor had been drinking or eating something at that moment he would have choked on it. Upon hearing mention of the Grand Prix his breath hitched. This was impossible. There was no way that fate was so kind as to let them both be competing at the same competition. Unless there was a cruel twist and in fact the Thai boy was not talking about the upcoming competition but instead one that was being looked forward to somewhere in the future.

"There's no way, Phichit," His soulmate shook his head as he finished undoing his skates. "I'm kind of surprised that I made it into the Grand Prix." At those words Victor let out a breath that he didn't realize that he was holding. They did indeed mean this upcoming Grand Prix.

"Come on -! You're a great skater! Maybe you flub some of your jumps but your steps, man they're great!" Phichit came and sat down beside the other skater and wrapped his arms around him. "You'll do great! I know it," The Thai boy beamed, apparently more than happy to see his friend succeed in figure skating.

"I hope I do. This will probably be my only chance to skate on the same ice as Victor, I'm hoping I don't mess it up."

Phichit groaned at his friend's comment. "I swear -, you are such a downer. You need to lighten up a bit. Have some more fun! I know!"

"Wha-" Victor's soulmate was cut off as Phichit stood up and pulled him along, as he continued.

"Let's stay up all night and binge watch Disney movies!"

"Phichit, I have practice tomorrow," the older boy whined as he was dragged behind his friend.

"No you don't, none of us do! Remember Celestino gave us all the day as a break?" Phichit stopped running for a minute to smile at his friend reassuringly. "Come on, this will be fun!"

"I guess, tonight only Phichit. Tonight only." Victor's soulmate finally succumbed to his friends wishes.

"It'll be great!" Once again Phichit resumed pulling his friend towards their shared dorm room.

* * *

When Victor woke up the following morning he knew there was something important that he needed to write down. Something critical. Something about his soulmate. Something that he really needed to remember.

He rolled over to look at the small table which stood next to his bed with only a clock sitting on it. Victor groaned, of course, he never kept a pen and paper on his bedside table anymore. Quickly he rolled out of his bed to begin his search of the needed paper and writing utensil.

In his mind, Victor kept repeating that he needed to remember this, occasionally murmuring about it. He knew he was forgetful, very forgetful, he may have possibly forgotten a couple of promises he made to a couple of people, only to be angrily reminded by them. He didn't want to forget this crucial piece of information he just learned from his dream.

"Aha!" Victor cried triumphantly as he grabbed a piece of notebook paper and pen from a drawer in his desk. He placed them on the top of the desk, running his hand through his short hair and pushing his bangs to the side. Victor attempted to remember what he was so intently trying to pen down. His mind remained blank.

"Oh God no," He breathed out, barely above an audible whisper. "No there's no way I already forgot. Oh please no."

Nothing came to mind no matter how hard Victor tried to remember what he just witnessed in his dreams. He wracked his brain continually minute after minute. Eventually, he had to give up and decided to just lay on his floor and groan in anguish. This could not be happening. There was no way. He prayed that at some point this would re-enter his mind. He pleaded.

* * *

 **Finally I've updated this story! I've actually had this written for a bit but there's a reason that I didn't update until today. That's because I've decided all updates will be posted on Wednesdays! Remember Yuri on Ice was released on Wednesdays so I thought I'd update my Yuri on Ice story and Wednesdays. I know it's genius. I'm amazing. But this isn't every Wednesday, it depends how long it takes me to write each chapter. But all updates will be Wednesday!**

 **Also! The next chapter is based on the banquet scene! I know it's super exciting, but please be aware that it's simply based off of the ending, everything isn't 100% canon. Hell, I literally wrote MilaxSara cause you know what. I ship it. Please don't go off about that. Thank you. This will probably end up being the longest chapter!**

 **Once again thank you to sabdypenguin6 for betaing this story!**

 **Ps. I have a twitter! It's Winter_Skye (2 underscores!) on here there's a lot of Yuri on Ice, cosplay related things, fanfic related things, and sometimes sneak peeks at upcoming chapters! Feel free to follow me!**

 **Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed :) As always feel free to favorite, follow, and review! I love all of you who take the time to read the story!**


	11. Chapter 8

Victor walked towards the banquet hall accompanied by Yakov, Yuri, and Mila. All of whom were dressed up, the guys in suits and Mila in a simple evening dress.

Mila nudged the blond standing next to her, who had a look of annoyance on his face. "Come on Yuri, lighten up! Let's have fun tonight!"

"Shut up, you hag," he snarled back at her.

"Yuri!" Victor turned around and stopped walking to look at the younger boy, a look of fake distress on his face. "How could you disrespect Mila like that?!"

"You're an idiot," Yuri angrily muttered at Victor.

"And disrespecting your elders!" Victor placed the back of his hand on his forehead in an attempt to act over-dramatic. "Yuri, how could you?!"

Everyone quieted when Yakov sent an annoyed glance at the three skaters. The four of them then continued to head to the banquet hall, Mila sending Victor a smirk in relation to the angry blond trailing behind them, which Victor gladly returned.

Upon entering the room, the group noticed how it was fairly full with people. They were apparently some of the last people to show up.

There were long tables lined up against all the walls, holding a buffet of food. Waiters walked around with trays filled with glasses of champagne for the of-age skaters, and sparkling cider for those under the drinking age. There were also a couple circular tables for attendees to sit at and conversate, if they so wished.

Mila quickly looked around the room before locating the person she had been looking for. She said a rushed 'see you guys later' before hurrying off to the other side of the room. The redhead gave a hug to another one of the female skaters, Sara Crispino. She had previously made offhanded comments about how she'd finally get to meet her soulmate.

Victor smiled at seeing Mila happy with her soulmate; he wished that he found his as easy as she did. He was still searching, and still unsuccessful. But tonight wasn't for that, Victor quickly decided and shook the thoughts from his head. No. Not tonight.

Yuri slinked off to some other part of the room. _Probably to grumble and complain about having to be dragged down here_ , Victor concluded. That seemed like a very Yuri thing to do, especially with his already sour attitude.

Victor moved out of the doorway to allow others the ability to come into the room without having to maneuver around someone else. He looked around the room, although he had been to many banquets before this one felt like it would be _different._ Victor couldn't place his finger on exactly what was different, he just _knew_ that it would be.

One of the waiters walked past him and offered a glass of champagne to the famed skater who gladly accepted. Early that evening, Victor had decided that he would cut himself off at no more than four glasses.

Victor lifted the glass to his lips to take a small drink when he noticed out of the corner of his eye someone else enter the banquet hall. Well more specifically two people. One of which was a dejected looking raven-haired, glasses-wearing skater whom Victor recognized as Yuuri Katsuki - the skater who came in last place. The other person with him, who was coaxing the skater into continuing into the room, Victor guessed was Yuuri's coach. There was something interesting about this skater to Victor. Most likely the fact that he messed up a good portion of his planned program.

Victor waved it away as simple curiosity about the other man. He was always curious about those he competed against.

The silver-haired skater was roped into conversation after conversation, so he acted as he knew he had to. Although he occasionally stole glances at the Japanese skater who now stood by himself next to an empty table. Well, empty except for the few champagne glasses that now took up residence there. Victor didn't take too much interest in this and turned his attention back to the conversation at hand. He was pretty sure that the people he was talking with were simply praising him on another victory.

The utter joy of winning was almost completely gone, but to Victor this program was special. Although it didn't really bring back the joy he once found in surprising the audience and taking first place.

"Victor! Do you have a minute?" A female voice called from behind him, which he immediately recognized as Mila's. Victor quickly dismissed himself from the conversation.

"Yes, Mila?" Victor turned around to see Mila with her arm protectively wrapped around Sara's shoulders, Sara's brother probably not too far away. After a quick glance around the room, Victor found that Mickey indeed was trying to make his way over to where his sister stood. But he was getting stopped by everyone who simply wanted to talk to him.

"I wanted to introduce you to Sara! Although I'm fairly sure you both know each other," Mila smiled as Sara wrapped her arm around the redhead's waist.

"It's still a pleasure to meet you once again, Sara. Is your brother losing his head over this?" Victor lifted the brunette's hand and left a kiss on the top of it.

Mila gently smacked Victor's shoulder, "Hands off, Victor," Mila smirked. "Sara's all mine," the redhead proceeded to wrap her arms more protectively around her soulmate. "Also, you're not being very secretive."

"Whatever do you mean Mila?"

"Victor, even _I_ noticed," Sara chimed in.

"Hmmm?" Victor questioned as he took another sip from his glass of champagne.

"You've been stealing glances at that Japanese skater all night." Mila blatantly stated, almost making Victor spit his drink. Had more people noticed this? He didn't think he was being _that_ obvious.

"It hasn't been subtle at all," Sara agreed. "Have a good night Victor, we'll see you later!" Sara turned away with Mila, stealing a quick kiss from her soulmate and waving goodbye to Victor.

"See you two later," Victor muttered under his breath as the two girls disappeared into the crowd of people.

There was no way he was being _that_ obvious. No way. He attempted to sneak another glance over to the corner where the dark-haired skater had been. To his disappointment, he no longer stood there, but instead what looked to be more than 10 champagne glasses littered the table. Victor quickly downed the champagne in his glass, marking the fourth and final glass of the night for him. He set the empty glass down on the table next to him and began his search for the Japanese skater. As he made his way into the throng of people Victor could feel the slight impact of the alcohol. Not that he was drunk, just slightly tipsy.

There in the middle of the group of people stood two skaters, Yuri Plisetsky and Yuuri Katsuki. The latter clearly drunk. Victor gently pushed his way towards the front of the crowd to get a better view as to what was going on.

"I am not dancing with you," The blond snarled at the man standing across from him. "Go dance with someone else." Yuri's eyes scanned the crowd which had formed until they landed on Victor and a sneaky grin formed on his face. "Why don't you go dance with Victor." Yuri pointed at the silver-haired skater in question.

Yuuri's eyes lit up at the idea and he gleefully half skipped, partially stumbled over to Victor who just stood there, mouth slightly agape at the turn of events. The music that had been playing in the background seemed to become louder and more inviting to dance to.

"Victor," Yuuri began, "Dance with me?"

"Of course," Victor quickly agreed as he held out his hand for Yuuri to take and lead him to dance. Yuuri quickly noticed and gently grabbed his hand. Victor noted how the other man's hand was soft and warm.

Yuuri did indeed lead him to an empty section of the room where he dipped Victor in his arms. Victor let out a small noise of surprise, quickly covering it with a laugh. Yuuri was smiling wide laughing a little as well.

"A little warning next time, Yuuri?" Victor grinned as he joked.

"But that takes away some of the fun!" Yuuri stood Victor up and quickly spun him. "Surprising someone is always fun."

"Of course," Victor in turn spun Yuuri, earning a giggle from him. Both were grinning from ear to ear. For Yuuri, it might have been a good portion from the alcohol, but for Victor this experience was one of the things he had enjoyed the most in a couple years.

"You're as good a dancer as you're a skater, Victor."

"I wish I could say the same about you, Yuuri," Victor joked. That is, he thought of it as a joke. Yuuri didn't take it as lightly and his face became distraught like it was earlier that night. He was easily reminded of his crushing defeat in the competition the previous day. He looked as though he could cry at any moment.

Victor immediately realized his mistake and moved to comfort the other skater. "No no no don't cry, Yuuri," he gently patted the younger man's head, slightly running his fingers through soft, black hair. "I was only joking. I didn't mean it as anything to hurt you. I'm so sorry. Yuuri?" Victor questioned as he felt a pressure on his hand as he realized that Yuuri was leaning his head into it.

"I forgive you, Victor," once again Yuuri was grinning. Victor was thinking to himself how this boy was an emotional roller-coaster when he was drunk.

"I'm glad." Victor returned the smile. "Want to continue dancing?" Again Victor held his hand out for Yuuri who eagerly accepted and nodded his head.

Anything the raven-haired skater wanted to do, Victor was happy to oblige. Any ridiculous dance, any pose. After all, he was having an amazing time. They both continued to laugh and smile throughout the entirety of it all. That was, after all, how Victor continually ended up in Yuuri's arms more than once.

The next thing Victor knew, Yuuri was pulling him by the arm to where Yuri stood, downing another flute of champagne on the way.

"Yuri," The Japanese skater caught the attention of the younger blonde.

"What is it?" Yuri turned around and snarled, his face ever so slightly softening when he saw Victor being dragged around. He had to stifle a laugh.

"I challenge you to a dance-off!" Yuuri pointed at the Russian. Apparently the last glass of champagne brought more confidence to Yuuri.

"WHAT?!" Victor and Yuri exclaimed in unison at the sudden proclamation. This was a development neither of them expected. This was not the shy and depressed Yuuri that had walked into the room earlier that evening.

"Of course!" Again Yuuri reached out to a passing waiter and downed yet _another_ glass of champagne.

"You're drunk off your ass," Yuri scoffed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Even if I did there's no way that you'd win."

"Well let's see then!"

Yuri groaned as he realized that if he didn't give up anytime soon Yuuri would continue pestering him until he did. "Fine."

Victor stood off to the side watching the exchange. The next moment he went to look at Yuuri but was caught off guard when the dark-haired man basically jumped on him. He wrapped his arms around Victor's neck. When Victor looked down at the man hanging off of him he realized that at some point, during a time he momentarily looked away, Yuuri had lost his pants and had tied the blue tie he wore around his head.

' _Oh God'_ Victor thought to himself as his face turned a shade of light red. This whole night was escalating in a way he _never_ expected to happen.

The glasses of champagne were finally taking full effect on Yuuri, the more recent ones were at least. His face was flushed and he looked a bit like a mess. Victor had to admit that his disheveled hair was kind of cute.

"Victooorr," Yuuri drawled, his speaking slightly slurred from the alcohol. "If I win this dance off you'll come and coach me, right?" Yuuri's eyes continued to light up as he talked and wrapped his arms tighter around Victor, pressing himself closer. Close enough to make Victor's face flush more and his heart skip a beat.

Victor simply quietly gulped as Yuri caught Yuuri's attention.

"Oi, are you going to get off of him or no?" Yuri leaned against the wall.

Yuuri quickly nodded and untangled his limbs from where they were around Victor.

Victor had to place a hand over his heart in an attempt to slow the ever-growing beat of it. There was also a fluttering in his stomach, a kind of sickening feeling. But not as though the food he ate was bad. No, Victor knew this feeling all too well, except this time it was about ten times stronger than all the previous times.

He went through plenty of crushes when he was younger, even though he knew fully well that he would prefer to wait for his soulmate. But the heart wants what the heart wants and doesn't really listen to one's thoughts. No, the heart doesn't care. Except this wasn't as fleeting, or as small as those feelings. No. This was something else entirely.

' _I can't be falling in love, I'm just drunk. That's it. We're both drunk, that's all it is.'_ Victor easily reasoned with himself, the part about him being drunk wasn't entirely convincing though as he was thinking completely clearly. Maybe he was just _tipsy._ Yes, he decided, tipsy seemed like a more correct word for this.

But as he watched the dance-off between Yuuri and Yuri his heart would speed up every time the former would even send a glance his way. Intentionally or otherwise.

Victor had to admit that they both kind of looked like dorks, although Yuri appeared to, for once in his life, be having a good time. A slight smile occasionally sneaking its way onto his face where a grimace would usually take up residence.

Every so often Victor had to swallow down a laugh, from both the display in front of him and the large crowd that was forming because of it. To be honest, it really was quite an amusing display.

Somewhere along the line someone had given Yuuri another drink, in the form of a full _bottle._ Victor questioned who in their right mind would give him anything else alcoholic. Water would probably be helpful. But no, someone decided to give Yuuri more alcohol that he poured in his mouth as he continued to wildly dance with Yuri.

The music continued to play as Victor felt a pair of arms snake around his waist and a chin rest on his shoulder. He almost expected the raven-haired skater that had managed to captivate him that night, to be the one resting on his shoulder. But to his shock when he tilted his head, he was greeted with short blond hair that could only belong to the Swiss skater, Chris Giacometti.

"Victor~" Chris breathed against Victor's neck. The latter could only let out a sigh at the Swiss skater. "Your friend has some nice moves," Chris commented as he watched the spectacle in front of them.

"Oh, Yuuri? I don't really know him that well," Victor awkwardly laughed as he talked.

"Well he seems to have taken a liking to you. He looks like he's fairly carefree and he looks like maybe he could just…" Chris mumbled the last part and trailed off. Victor turned to look at him once again a look of uncertainty on his face.

"Chris you don't mean-?"

"Oh, you know me too well Victor! It's already set up too," Chris unwrapped his arms from Victor and started walking towards the dance floor, sending a wink to Victor. "I'll see you later, Victor~ Thanks for the nice chat!"

"Chris no don't," Victor moved to stop Chris from what he knew was going to happen, but he was already too far gone. Victor just had to let out a sigh as he watched the exchange.

Yuuri had stopped dancing for a moment and stood off to the side, where Chris came to stand with him. The Japanese skater listened intently to what the other told him. It didn't take too much convincing on Chris' part before Yuuri was almost busting with excitement at whatever idea Chris supplied.

Victor's eyes followed where they were heading as they both moved to a different side of the room. What his eyes landed on slightly surprised him, but not too much since this was Chris they were talking about. There, standing from the floor to the ceiling, was a shining silver pole.

"Really, Chris?" Victor mumbled to himself. He was debating whether or not he wanted to make his way over to the other side of the room. Victor knew if he did his heart rate would sky rocket once again and the fading blush would most likely reappear on his face.

Victor watched as Chris held onto the pole with one hand and hooked a leg around it. He let himself spin around it, to test it to make sure that it would indeed hold their weight. But also as a demonstration for Yuuri who stood next to him eager to try.

When given the chance, Yuuri eagerly mimicked Chris. He didn't really spin around it but instead simply slid down the metal pole. Chris laughed heartily and patted Yuuri on the back before explaining to him how he needed to grip the pole with his thighs. Victor had to place a hand over his face to hide the blush that insisted on returning. He still was unsure as to why his eyes were continually drawn to the Japanese man.

After a couple tries, Yuuri was able to copy Chris fairly well. Soon they both were working seamlessly together, switching on and off but also sometimes would be on the pole together.

Victor made his way over to one of the unoccupied tables and took a seat. He let out a sigh as he dropped his head into his hands. Yes, this banquet was indeed _very_ different from any of the other ones he had ever attended.

Quickly, he glanced at his phone to check the time. It was already after midnight. The crowd was beginning to thin as people began to head back to their hotel room and get some rest. Victor decided to follow suit and attempt to leave, leave behind the dark-haired skater even though his heart told him to stay. Part of Victor tried to pull himself in the direction of asking if the other man would like to accompany him back to his hotel room. Not for any _intimate_ activities, Victor reassured himself, he just wanted to know this man who captivated him so. But no, he pushed the part of him that suggested it to the side and made his way out of the room.

* * *

The following morning Victor woke up and all the events from the banquet came flooding back into his mind. As he laid on the hotel bed, Victor sighed as he covered his face with his hands in distress. Once again the feeling of wanting to see, wanting to get to know, the skater who captured his heart in a single night. He couldn't believe that in one night he quite possibly fell in love with a drunk skater who he barely knew.

On the small table next to the bed Victor's phone lit up with an alarm Victor didn't realize that he had set previously. He quickly rolled over and silenced it. With the last battery that the phone currently possessed, Victor opened up the camera roll and browsed the pictures he absent-mindedly had taken from the night before.

Most of the pictures included the elusive skater, in some of which he looked like an utter dork but in others, to Victor, he almost looked like a prince. A prince who showed up one day to a gathering, only to leave and never be seen again. Victor hoped that it wasn't the case now. He utterly wanted to meet this skater at least one more time.

Rolling onto his back, Victor let his phone fall out of his hand onto the bed next to him as he groaned. This was not what he expected when he decided to attend the banquet the night before. Not to actually enjoy himself. Not to meet someone who made him smile, a real smile. Not to possibly fall in love.

* * *

 **Ahhh so many things I want to say right now! I guess I'll go one by one.**

 **First of all, thank you all so much for over 500 follows. This continues to absolutely blow my mind! Because of this, this story has become the most followed story in the Yuri On Ice category (excluding M rated stories, and even then it is the second most followed story) I swear this absolutely is amazing and I love you all so much. I say this all the time, I know.**

 **I've been seeing things a lot lately about how authors of fics love to get art from our readers. It's absolutely true! If you ever read any of my scenes or chapters and want to draw something for me, I'd love to see it! No matter what you feel about the art, I will absolutely love it. Send it to me on Twitter ( Winter_Skye It's 2 underscores) or pm me the link if you post it somewhere else ^^**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it! It was so much fun to write drunk Yuuri. To all of you who wanted to smack Vitya in the previous chapter, I bet you all want to seriously slap him now. Also a big thank you to Okaeri-Kairi for helping me figure out how to write a paragraph better, she literally sent me about 5 different ways to write it ^^; she's such an amazing writer, I would definitely recommend her story Separation Anxiety. Also a thank you to sandypenguin6 for once again betaing this story! Finally, thank you to all of you who read this story.**

 **Honestly, I hope you think I did the banquet justice! It really was so much fun to write.**

 **Feel free to follow, favorite, and review! All of your reviews make me smile, thank you :)**

 **I love you all!**

 **Side note: I might not have a chapter up for about 2 weeks, maybe more. Please remember that I am indeed a human who cannot solely dedicate themselves to fanfic. I am a high school student with prior commitments. Thank you ^^ Long author's note is over.**


	12. Chapter 9

Victor found that on the mornings where he didn't have practice, he was always awoken by the sun pouring in through the windows; similar to what would happen when he was a young child, living with his parents.

Those mornings, the light would always find a way to shine precisely in his eye, stirring him from his slumber. The light didn't stir Makkachin, though. What woke him was Victor shifting on his side of the bed. This morning was no different.

"It's too early for the sun to be up already," Victor groaned as he covered his eyes with his arm. It was always too early for him on these mornings. He found it odd, considering that he was up for 6 am practices the majority of the time.

Makkachin just lifted his head off of his paws, took a glance at his owner in his almost pathetically tired state, and decided it wasn't worth his time so he fell back asleep. Victor knew the poodle would eagerly hop up when he went to the kitchen, though. That's when he was fed after all.

With another groan, Victor forced himself out of his bed and stumbled into the kitchen. Sure enough, not long after, Makkachin came trotting out behind him.

After feeding Makkachin, Victor flopped down on his couch in the living room. He grabbed his phone from the table next to him, where he had left it the night before.

Opening it up he found multiple Instagram notifications, mostly just Chris liking a good portion of his posts. Sighing, he just scrolled through the list of notifications he had received on his phone. A certain one from Chris proceeded to catch his eye. A video link with the caption, "Thought you might be interested in this~ He looks familiar, don't you think? ;) btw it's really good"

The video thumbnail let Victor know that it was a skating video, plenty of which he had seen. Some had been renditions of his own choreographies, others were of other professional skaters, and some were just amateurs. Yet this one was one he had yet to see. Probably for the fact that it looked like it had only been posted in the past 12 hours, but it continued to climb over 500,000 views.

' _Yuuri Katsuki skating Victor Nikiforov's Stay Close To Me,'_ Was the title of the video, and it intrigued Victor. Yuuri Katsuki seemed like such a familiar name to him, he just couldn't place it. He knew him from somewhere, Victor knew it.

And so his curiosity made him press the play button.

The video opened showing a raven-haired Japanese man. Victor knew the choreography by heart, considering it was his own and he was the one who originally choreographed it. He quickly realized that the video itself had no music, only the sound of skates against the ice. But it was almost as though he could hear the music clear as day. It was as if this man created music with his movements.

About halfway through the video something in Victor's mind clicked. It clicked hard. He had to press the pause button as he spoke his thoughts through out loud.

"Yuuri, Yuuri was the one who scored 6th at the Grand Prix," Victor started. "I know that."

Makkachin came and hopped onto the couch to lay near Victor's feet.

"Hey Makkachin," Victor commented absentmindedly. "He was the one who got drunk off of however many flutes of champagne they let him have. Which personally was too much."

Taking a moment to completely process what he just put together, Victor stood there with his eyes wide. This was that Yuuri, the one he fell in love with in a single night. A single night full of dancing, fun, laughing, smiling, and champagne.

Quickly his mind flashed to the list he kept by his bedside as a child, he wasn't even quite sure why that's what he thought of.

 _Notes about my soulmate_

 _-They have black hair_

 _-First grade?_

 _-Doesn't speak Russian_

 _-Has a girl friend who has brown hair_

 _-Lives in a place like a hot spring?_

 _-Has an ice skating rink in their town_

 _-Different types of buildings_

 _-A fan of mine! :)_

 _-Likes this noodle bowl thing?_

 _-The language is either Chinese, Japanese, or Korean_

 _-Wears glasses_

Black hair, check. Yuuri definitely had black hair, which Victor had learned was really soft to the touch.

Ice skating, check. Clearly he was ice skating in this video.

A fan of Victor's, check. It was rather apparent that Yuuri was a fan of Victor's if he had taken the time to learn the choreography of the program.

Japanese, check. A while ago Victor had determined that the language he constantly saw and heard in his dreams was indeed Japanese. He also knew that Yuuri was a skater who represented Japan.

Glasses? Check? Victor wasn't absolutely sure, he wasn't able to tell. Although it did look like he was squinting during some of the video he had watched. But, at the banquet Yuuri was wearing glasses- at least until he took them off at some point during the time he was overly drunk.

Victor calmed himself by running a hand through his hair. This could just be a complete coincidence. Maybe it just so happened that Yuuri matched all of the things he noticed about his soulmate over the years. It was completely possible, Victor attempted to reason with himself.

" _Speaking of Victor,"_

" _I bet you, when you completely iron out this program, you'll be able to get on the podium with him at the Grand Prix!"_

Those words came flooding back into his mind. Those words that he knew he forgot the morning after he heard them. But, here they were, coming flooding back. They proved that this wasn't some magical coincidence. No. No this wasn't.

" _There's no way, Phichit,"_

" _I'm kind of surprised that I made it into the Grand Prix."_

Those were the words his _soulmate_ had uttered many, many nights ago. The words that stated that his soulmate was going to be competing in the Grand Prix.

His soulmate with black hair, glasses, who was Japanese, who loved ice skating. It all made sense now. The reason he fell in love so easily that night at the banquet. Why he just felt immediately drawn to the dark-haired skater. Everything-

"Yuuri is my soulmate!" Victor dumbly blurted out. It was so plain to see now. How he could have ever missed it, he wasn't completely sure.

He had to take a moment to scold himself for forgetting the dream that would have made this so much simpler for him.

" _Victooorr, if I win this dance off you'll come and coach me, right?"_

That's what Yuuri said to him during the banquet. Did he really mean it? Victor wanted to believe it, so that's what fueled him to his decision.

"I have to go to Japan. I need to meet Yuuri! People will question it if I just drop skating all of a sudden to leave.." Victor trailed off as he thought about the possibilities. "I'll do just as he asked! I'll play it off as though I'm there to coach him!"

Victor rolled it over in his mind. "Yes. That works."

Quickly Victor finished the video, amazed at the execution of it. This was no where near the drunk Yuuri he met after the Grand Prix, especially after his horrible loss. This was a skater full of confidence and grace.

Once the video finished, Victor quickly switched tabs to his text messages and opened the one for Yakov. He tapped the message within seconds and pressed send.

"Yakov, I'm booking a flight to Japan ))"

Taking less than a minute, Victor's phone buzzed with the notification that Yakov replied to him.

"WHAT THE HELL, VITYA. WHY"

Instead of typing a reply Victor simply sent the video of Yuuri skating his program. In response he received another angry response from his coach.

"YOU'RE LEAVING FOR THAT JAPANESE SKATER? WHAT FOR?"

"Coaching."

"VITYA IF YOU DO THIS YOUR CAREER WILL GO DOWN THE DRAIN, I CAN'T GET YOU OUT OF THIS ONE"

"What if I said it's love?"

"OH NOW IT'S LOVE. WHAT'S NEXT? ARE YOU GOING TO SAY THIS MAN IS YOUR SOULMATE?"

Victor had to stop himself from chuckling at how his coach found him so predictable. After all, he wasn't wrong.

"Yes?"

"GOD DAMMIT VITYA I SWEAR YOU'RE GOING TO PUT ME IN AN EARLY GRAVE"

Victor ran his hand through his hair as he smirked and typed a final reply to Yakov.

"I'll say goodbye to you in person later, Yakov. Bye!"

* * *

The snow fell all around Victor as the wind pushed his long jacket around his legs. He kept his hands tucked away in his pockets to shield them from the cold. The sun was already setting, and was almost completely replaced with the moon.

Victor stood on the bridge where he told Yakov they would meet. The cold was biting at his ears and nose, turning them both slightly red.

Footsteps sounded from the other end of the bridge. Victor turned towards the sound, his silver hair moving into his face.

Yakov walked towards where Victor stood. Victor moved to meet his coach in the middle.

"Goodbye Yakov. I'll see you again, I promise. Thank you for everything you've done for me."

"Vitya, you don't have to do this. You don't have to leave everything."

"Yakov, I already told you. I need to do this, I need to visit Yuuri again. He's my _soulmate_ , you know I've been looking for him my whole life," Victor explained in a voice slightly above a whisper.

"Of course, but this is idiotic. Even for you." Yakov's words made Victor chuckle.

"Yes, yes I know. I'll play it off like I'm there strictly for coaching. It'll probably end up less in the media than if I were to say that I'm dropping everything to head to Japan to meet up with my soulmate." Victor explained what he had been planning for a while now.

"But still-"

"Yakov, it'll be fine. _I'll_ be fine."

"I'm telling you, Vitya, you're going to put me in an early grave."

Victor gently hugged his coach, "So you've said, so you've said. Thank you for everything Yakov."

Just like that, Victor pushed his hands back into his jacket and turned on his heel to walk in the direction he had originally come from. He moved towards the airport to catch his flight to Japan. He was excited but there was a bit of dread in his stomach. He hoped that Yuuri would accept him, but what if he didn't? After all, Victor noted, Yuuri never made any move to acknowledge him as his soulmate.

* * *

 **OOooo slight cliffhanger that isn't really a cliffhanger but hey it's intriguing at least a little bit! It honestly took so much effort to actually even start this chapter. But I hope you guys aren't too upset with how long you had to wait!**

 **Side notes! I have some pretty cool things to share!**

 **First up! If you have been following my twitter ( Winter_Skye) you've probably been seeing me tweet about a fantasy au and character design planing. But for those who aren't following my twitter (which you totally should, absolutely quality content ^^;) I am planning a Yuri On Ice fantasy au! It's still in the planning portion but I've finished basic character designs :D I hope you keep an eye out for that!**

 **Second and last thing! Finally I have put myself on the AO3 invite list, and hopefully I'm getting my invite today (when this chapter is posted) or around now! So, if you've put it together, I will also be posting this story on there once I set up my account! So if when that happens and you want to hop over there and give the story some love, it would be much appreciated!**

 **Thank you everyone for still letting this story be the most followed story (excluding M rated fics, then it's second most followed) in the Yuri On Ice category on here! Thank you everyone for reading, over 600 follows just blows my mind. I love you all!**

 **I hope you enjoyed, feel free to follow, favorite and review!**


	13. Chapter 10

Plane rides, usually boring trips just for foreign skating events. Not the excitement that radiated off of Victor as he sat in his first class seat, awaiting the upcoming landing. Upcoming meaning somewhere close to an hour.

But, Victor didn't mind, after all he was going to be meeting his soulmate that day. Well maybe not that day exactly, as he expected that he'd soon succumb to the 6 hour time difference. His body still feeling as though it was left in St. Petersburg.

' _Yuuri. I absolutely can't wait to meet you, I've been looking for you my whole life. Although I didn't know it was you until a couple days ago. But it's alright! We'll finally be tog-'_

"Excuse me sir," the blonde stewardess interrupted his thoughts, "We'll be landing soon. Please put up your tray and buckle your seat belt."

"Yes of course," Victor nodded as he complied. The blonde soon walked off to address the couple other people who simply missed the announcement.

"I must have missed the announcement. That never happens," he muttered under his breath.

After Victor was broken out of his thoughts, he would occasionally steal glances at the other select passengers up in the section with him.

Next to him, across the aisle, was a young girl who was happily swinging her legs as her feet didn't quite reach the ground. She was also talking to anyone who would stop for a minute and listen. Victor accidentally caught her eye as she dropped her current conversation, as it didn't interest her as much as the silver haired man sitting across the aisle.

"Hi mister! What's your name?" She turned in her seat to face Victor as she spoke in English.

Victor silently hoped that he wouldn't mess up his English, as it was a bit rusty, to this girl who seemed as though it was her native tongue.

"Hi," he cheerfully responded. "My name is Victor. Can I ask yours?"

"Adelaide! Though most people just call me Adie since it's easier," she slightly trailed off before quickly being brought back by Victor's voice.

"That's a pretty name, either way you say it." Victor grinned as a large smile spread across the little girl's face.

"I like your name too!" Adelaide shifted in her seat in an attempt to look behind Victor and saw that there was no one in the seat next to him. "There's no one sitting with you? You seem too handsome to be by yourself!"

Victor chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck, "Thank you for the compliment, but I'm actually traveling to meet my soulmate."

Adelaide's eyes widened as she leaned closer to him. "Really? That's so cool! It is true what they say about everyone having a soulmate! She must be really lucky! Is she pretty? Do you know?" Apparently this was one of her most exciting conversations of the plane ride.

"Well I'd say he's pretty handsome, but I could probably say he's pretty."

' _Especially when he skates,'_ Victor mentally added.

"He?!" Adelaide's mouth seemed to hit the floor. "But I thought soulmates were only boys and girls," she whispered as though she worried about someone hearing the topic.

"Not always. Sometimes girls get matched with girls and boys get matched with boys. But anyone is allowed to love anyone they want."

"Really? Woah that's so cool... maybe I'll be matched with a cute girl."

"Would you like that?" Victor gently smiled as he inquired.

"I'm not sure," Adelaide let out a sigh before she started talking again. "Where are you from?"

"St. Petersburg in Russia."

"Russia?! Wow that's so far!" Once again her face filled with amazement. "Is he excited to meet you?"

"This is actually a surprise, he doesn't know I'm coming today."

' _Hopefully it's a surprise he likes. I don't know what I would do if he just happened to turn away._ ' Victor mentally winced at the horrible thought. ' _But that would never happen, after all I am_ the Victor Nikiforov.'

"I like surprises! They're so much fun!" Adelaide paused for a second before continuing, "Are you staying in Japan? Or do you have another ride like me?"

"I'm staying in Japan, that is where I get to surprise my soulmate after all." Victor smiled as it was announced that they were landing momentarily.

As everyone was exiting the plane, Adelaide looked over her shoulder back at Victor before she called out, "Thank you for talking to me Victor!" She waved before being pushed forward by her parents.

Victor couldn't help but smile with just how happy the little girl was. Her attitude definitely made his day, he felt like he could face whatever was to happen later and into the following day.

~oO0Oo~

' _Hmmm it's not too late in the day,'_ Victor thought as he took a glance at the time on his phone. ' _I could try to find his place today. But I'm so tired.'_ He yawned as he wheeled his one piece luggage down the street as he debated whether to find a hotel to stay the night or look for Yuuri.

The sun was slowly making it's way towards the horizon, but it wasn't turning the sky different colors signifying the arrival of night. Victor continued to walk down the street, looking at the buildings around him. Most things he barely understood as they were in Japanese characters, some things had a couple words in English, but not many.

One of the buildings caught his attention though. Victor brought himself to a stop, when he looked around the side he could just make out what seemed to be a hot spring.

' _It is getting fairly late. And this place looks nice, I've always wanted to go to a hot spring. Might as well.'_

Victor walked up to the front door, knocking out of courtesy. He stood by the door waiting for one of the owners to come open it for him.

Soon enough, a man stood before him and welcomed him in, although he spoke in rapid Japanese.

"Sorry, I don't speak Japanese." Victor had to interrupt.

The man had to take a minute to adjust from talking in his native tongue to a more foreign one. His English was a bit slower than Victor's as he was carefully thinking out his word choice.

"Welcome! Thank you for coming by. I'm sorry about that, most of our customers are locals, or at least speak Japanese as well. It's a habit I have."

"It's alright. Don't worry about it. Would I possibly be able to use the hot spring?"

"Of course! But, I never got to know your name and introduce myself. I'm Katsuki Toshiya." Toshiya introduced himself.

"Yes, I'm sorry, I must have forgotten my manners. I'm Victor Nikiforov."

What appeared to be a look of recognition passed over Toshiya's face but disappeared as quickly as it came.

' _Katsuki, that sounds familiar… THAT'S YUURI'S LAST NAME,'_ Victor realized moments after hearing Toshiya's name.

"Would you happen to be the father of Yuuri Katsuki? I really enjoy watching his skating," Victor asked, in an attempt not to sound _too_ weird.

"Oh yes! He's definitely a great skater, he gets a little down on himself though."

"Really?" Victor replied, shocked. "But the way he moves almost creates music all on its own. It's absolutely beautiful!"

"He simply doesn't believe us, he says that he's average," Toshiya shrugged as he answered. "You seem to be very passionate about this, maybe he'll listen to you. But that might be a bit weird," He chuckled.

"Maybe not, I'm a professional skater as well. For Russia that is."

"There's a professional skater from Russia who Yuuri's always looked up to, I can't remember his name though.. This is quite a coincidence."

Having learned a fair amount in the short conversation Victor held with Toshiya, he figured that it would be a good time to let him get back to work.

"Sorry for holding you up, but could you please show me to the hot springs?"

"Of course! It's no problem, you're a nice young man to hold a conversation with."

~oO0Oo~

Victor began to sink into the water, allowing it to fully envelop him. He sank lower into the water, letting out a relaxed sigh.

"This is really nice…" Victor allowed the water to come up and reach right under his chin. "I can't believe my luck to have stumbled onto Yuuri's parent's hot spring. What a coincidence." He allowed himself to murmur out loud, since no one else was present.

"My plan is magically falling into place, I hope he's like Adelaide and likes the surprise."

He began to let his eyes ever so slightly close. Not even a minute later a thundering sound came from inside the inn, coming closer to the hot spring. The sound was almost reminiscent of heavy footsteps.

When Victor's eyes opened at the sudden sound he was greeted with the exact sight he had expected, someone rushing out of the inn. That specific someone being the raven-haired skater that he came to surprise. Standing there in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe as he caught his breath after it looked like he ran a long distance.

Yuuri's face took on an immense look of shock as he realized who was lounging in the hot spring.

Not even moments later Victor found that his first, and best option was to stand up and extend his arm out towards Yuuri.

"Yuuri!"

' _Do I say coaching or soulmate? Yakov would prefer coaching, but Yakov isn't here right now, so…'_

"I'm your soulmate and I'm here to win your heart!"

Yuuri began to stutter as he placed his hands behind him on the inn's closed door. The only things coming out of his mouth were incomprehensible sounds and partial words, muttering some words in Japanese and some in English.

Victor let him continue like that for a moment, allowing Yuuri to gather his thoughts.

"V-victor!"

"Yuuri," Victor replied smoothly.

"T-there's no way that you're here," Yuuri muttered, a mix of star-struck and surprised.

"I'm right here in front of you! Of course I'm here!" Victor grinned as he placed his hands on his hips and continued to watch Yuuri. "Once I figured out you were my soulmate I had to fly here immediately!"

Taking a moment to breathe, Yuuri composed himself enough to stop stuttering. "You're wrong, I was matched incorrectly. _You_ are _not_ my soulmate."

With those words, Yuuri straightened himself, turned on his heel and walked back through the door he originally walked through.

After his soulmate's abrupt departure, Victor sighed and sank back down into the water as he placed his face in his hands. "Oh what did I do wrong? I went and messed everything up. I should have listened to Yakov and started everything off like I _was_ here for coaching. But what did Yuuri mean when he said that he was matched incorrectly?!"

At his last statement Victor quickly brought his head back up as he became extremely worried and confused.

"Matched incorrectly?! MATCHED INCORRECTLY?! He can't possibly think that we're not supposed to be together! I flew halfway around the world to get here! That must mean something!" He groaned and lowered himself further into the water.

~oO0Oo~

"I hope you liked the hot spring, Victor." Yuuri spoke as he guided Victor through the inn, a stack of folded towels in his hands. Victor followed behind him, wearing one of the robes the inn provides to their guests. He caught Yuuri glancing towards areas where he suspected his parents to be. Victor assumed that they told Yuuri to look after him.

"It was really nice! I can't believe you were lucky enough to grow up with it."

"The only downside is that I've been helping out around here ever since I was old enough to hold a broom," Yuuri admitted as they walked into the main room, where his parents actually were.

Every time he talked, Victor could hear something that reminded him of hesitation, but he figured it was probably something else. He didn't blame the other skater, after all he just showed up in a hot spring, declared they were soulmates, and was then turned down by his supposed soulmate.

* * *

 **Wow I finally updated, it's amazing. Believe it or not this chapter was actually written in just a couple days :o So apparently this chapter made some people cry, well sad, sorry to anyone that this applies to. I hope you'll stick with me until I get to some cute fluff :D**

 **Thank you guys for reading! I appreciate all of you who stick with me even with my terrible update schedule :O**

 **Reviews, favorites, and follows are appreciated! (can we get to 700 follows? That'd be amazing :D)**

 **Thank you once again!**


	14. Chapter 11

The hot spring and inn were so warm, the food was so good, everything seemed like borderline heaven to Victor so he didn't find it surprising to have accidentally have fallen asleep on the floor. His robe slightly falling off of his shoulder, with an arm wrapped around Makkachin.

Nodding off into sleep wasn't a difficult task. Soon enough, Victor found that he was dreaming of the inn he was currently staying in. Further proving his suspicion that Yuuri was his soulmate. He was completely correct, which made Yuuri turning him down even more weird.

He could hear Yuuri talking to his mother in hushed and quick Japanese. Occasionally he would be able to pick out his name. As well as being able to register Yuuri's mother's facial expressions, which gave him some sort of idea of what the conversation was about. At least if it was positive or negative.

She would say something before Yuuri would respond, causing her to look shocked. Victor noticed how Yuuri would glance down at his lap and ball his hands into fists as he grabbed the hem of his shirt.

After watching the exchange between the two of them for a little bit, Victor felt Makkachin shift in his arms. The shift had woken him up to the point between being awake and being asleep. More towards being awake, that being the case because he sneezed from feeling a little cold. Victor just laid there with his eyes closed, pretending to be asleep.

Soon he could hear one of them get up, walk over to another side of the room, grab something and walk back over to him. He felt warm as he realized that they had laid a blanket on top of him. His best guess was that Yuuri's mother was the one he had gotten it for him.

Slowly, he sat up, rubbing his eyes, as the blanket fell off of his chest and into his lap. Makkachin looked up, gave Victor an annoyed look then moved over a little to just fall asleep again.

Victor stretched his arms above his head, letting out a yawn.

"Thank you for the blanket," he nodded towards Yuuri's mother, speaking in English.

She momentarily looked a little surprised before she composed herself and pointed at Yuuri, "No, no it was Yuuri who got it."

"Really? Thank you Yuuri!" Victor grinned.

Yuuri's face flushed up to his ears as he looked down at his lap again. He gripped his shirt hem tighter.

"It's no problem," Yuuri muttered, not daring to look back up.

Turning back to Yuuri's mother, Victor started a conversation with her. "The katsudon was amazing!"

"I'm glad you liked it, it's actually Yuuri's favorite. I Make it a lot for him." She smiled from the praise. "Isn't that right?"

Yuuri just nodded in agreement, "It's delicious."

"He would eat it after he won a competition," she added.

"But you haven't won anything lately, have you Yuuri?" Victor inquired as he tilted his head and placed his finger on his cheek. _Except my heart,_ he mentally added.

"Victor!" Yuuri's head shot up when he realized what was said. "That was uncalled for," he murmured under his breath.

"It's true, though, right?"

Yuuri's mother was giggling a little, watching the display.

"I guess so," Yuuri sighed.

Victor was slightly surprised at how Yuuri seemed to have little to no trouble talking to him with his mother around. It was nice.

"That's why I'm here! I'm going to coach you," Victor grinned with happiness.

Yuuri made a type of choking sound as his face was overtaken by surprise. Victor could guess that it was not what Yuuri expected him to say. After all, he'd just recently confessed to him that they were soulmates. This could almost be classified a complete 180: going from soulmates to coaching. Victor would like to make Yakov _somewhat_ happy.

"You're here for WHAT?!" Yuuri's mouth continued to hang open while his mother clapped her hands together.

"My, this sounds wonderful!" Turning to Victor she added, "He's looked up to you for so long, I think you should know that. This is all amazing. Right Yuuri?"

"Mom, you're not helping," Yuuri whined as he placed his head in his hands.

"So, are you going to let me coach you?" Victor asked, his heart in his throat. Yuuri could quite easily tell him no and tell him to just go back to Russia. Which he would do, although not very willingly. There was a pause and he felt as though the tension in the air could be cut with a knife.

Yuuri began to answer, "I'll thi-"

"Yes, he will," his mother cut him off mid sentence, answering the question for him. "This will be a good experience for you Yuuri! You need to start skating again. It's been awhile hasn't it?"

A smile pulled at the corners of Victor's mouth as he couldn't help but chuckle a little. Honestly, Yuuri was absolutely adorable when he was flustered. And his mother sure did a great job of making him flustered.

"So now that it's settled I believe you should show me around this wonderful town! And show me the skating rink you practice at. We can go right now!" Victor exclaimed as he jumped up off the ground, slightly startling Makkachin.

"Victor!"

"Yes, Yuuri?" Victor faced him as he placed his hands on his hips.

"Victor, honey, it's almost 10 at night and you just had a long flight today. You can't go running around town at this hour." Yuuri's mother explained, a bit of worry and concern laced in her voice. "I think this has also been a bit of a shock to Yuuri. You both should go sleep."

"Oh yes, of course. I wasn't thinking," Victor chuckled as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Yuuri, will you show Victor his room?" She asked as she turned to Yuuri, who just nodded and slowly stood.

The night had somehow slipped past Victor. Although when he thought about it he realized that he did arrive at the Inn later in the day and then slept for who knows how long. He decided that the following day he'd have Yuuri show him around the town. The very same town he saw in his dreams night after night for a good portion of his life. Finally be able to see the skating rink, and maybe Yuuri's childhood friend, Yukko, if Victor was correct.

~oO0Oo~

The following morning was bright, although it was on the chillier side. The sun was doing its best to warm up the fall day. It was shining as Victor was insisting that Yuuri show him around town. Both of them having a bag slung over each their shoulders.

"Victor, stop pulling me around," Yuuri whined as he attempted to pull his jacket tighter around himself, which was quite a task when he had someone hanging off of his sleeve. "I'll show you around, just give me a minute, please."

"But-"

"I won't show you around if you don't let me zip up my jacket," Yuuri was able to cut off Victor, who finally let go of his sleeve.

"Alright Yuuri," Victor sighed, slightly defeated. He just couldn't refuse the man who he had hopelessly fallen in love with.

"Cheer up," Yuuri commented as he turned and made his way down the street after shoving his hands in his pockets. "You wanted to go, right?"

Victor had to jog slightly to catch up to Yuuri after a moment of hesitation.

After Victor caught up and settled into the same pace as Yuuri and stuck his hands in his pockets to avoid the cool wind, he spoke up, "This town is so nice. Isn't it near the ocean?"

"Yeah, it is," Yuuri responded and kept walking.

"It must be great for walks when it's warmer out, I should take Makkachin at some point." Victor continued talking as he almost missed where Yuuri made a right.

"Victor, this way," Yuuri beckoned as he paused and waited for Victor to correct himself and start walking down the correct street.

"How much farther is it?" Victor inquired after he managed to start walking the right way.

"Right up there," Yuuri nodded to the slightly large building looming in the distance.

"Wow."

"It's nothing special, but Yukko takes great pride in it," Yuuri grinned as he talked.

There was the name Victor was looking for, Yukko. So she was still around in the town.

"Well, it's something special since you practice there."

"And we're here," Yuuri avoided the statement by veering into the building.

As he walked into the building, Victor saw the counter straight in front of him; racks of states positioned behind it. Either side of the walkway had a couple benches, although no one was sitting on them. There were a couple voices coming from one of the hallways, which Victor guessed led to the ice rink.

"Yukko!" Yuuri called out and then began talking in Japanese. "Do you have a moment to come out?"

"Oh Yuuri! Yep! I'll be right out, give me a minute!" A female voice called back.

Victor stood there holding the strap of his bag tightly while he waited for Yukko to come out.

"Yuuri, I wasn't expecting you today," Yukko began as she appeared in the doorway, looking down at her hands as she pulled her gloves off. "You usually come after hours but we're not busy today, so it's okay. I thought I heard someone else come in-," She looked up and saw both of them standing in the front doorway, "VICTOR."

Victor just waved a little as she began to freak out.

Turning to Yuuri, Yukko started freaking out in Japanese. "Yuuri you never said that _Victor_ was coming with you! Wait. Why is he here? I mean it's great and all but _why?_ "

"Yukko, honestly I'm not sure why he flew around half the world to be here. But he's here now. Also can we speak in English?" Yuuri added.

"Yeah, yeah of course," she said as she switched languages so Victor could finally understand her. She made her way right in front of them.

"Hi, it's Yukko, right?" Victor smiled and held out his hand. "I'm-"

"Victor Nikiforov, one of the best... no, _the_ best skater in the figure skating world," Yukko finished for him as she shook his hand.

Victor chuckled as he responded. "Yep, it's nice to meet you Yukko. You look very nice."

Yukko giggled at the compliment, "Oh, I wish. I'm a mess, I was just out skating with Axel, Lutz, and Loop. But what are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm Yuuri's sou-" Victor was cut off as Yuuri kicked him in the back of the leg. He quickly corrected himself, "coach."

"Uh? What just happened?" Yukko's face was filled with complete confusion.

"Nothing, it's nothing. Right Victor?" Yuuri waved his hands in front of him after which he sent a glare at Victor.

"Right, Yuuri. It was nothing, I'm going to be his coach." Victor stated.

"Okay, so now I'm really confused."

Victor opened his mouth to speak as three voices gained volume as they got closer to the doorway Yukko had come from. Three little girls ran in talking in Japanese, none of which Victor could understand.

Yukko met them halfway in the room, and kneeled down to meet them at eye level. All of them began to talk in hushed Japanese. One of them looked up and saw Victor who had turned to talk to Yuuri. Her face lit up and exclaimed his name loudly. Yukko just giggled again as she stood up and walked over with the three of them.

"These are my daughters: Axel, Lutz, and Loop," she introduced the three triplets to Victor. "They're huge fans. And skating otakus," Yukko added under her breath.

One of them tugged at the bottom of Yukko's sleeve to bring her down to their level.

Standing back up, Yukko translated what she just heard, "Victor, they'd like to know if they could get a couple pictures with you."

"Of course!" Victor responded, nodding his head so the triplets could understand what he was saying. That is if his smile didn't give it away first.

Yuuri stepped to the side as Axel, Lutz, and Loop took out their phones and began taking selfies with Victor who had kneeled down. Victor was smiling and laughing at how adorable the little girls were, although he could see how the might be a handful for Yukko.

Yuuri just smiled at Yukko as their idol was in the ice skating rink they grew up in. Victor thought that this entire meeting might seem like a dream to Yukko. That is, if her original reaction was anything to go off of.

Once the triplets were satisfied, Victor was able to stand up. He ran his hand through his bangs, straightening them as he repositioned the bag on his shoulder.

"Yukko, could we possibly use the rink for a bit? I'll be willing to perform for you." Victor sent a wink to Yukko who flushed.

"Y-yes of course!" She gestured to the doorway. "Right through there."

"Thank you," Victor responded as he grinned. He confidently walked through the door, Yuuri following behind him, Yukko and the triplets behind Yuuri.

Walking in, Victor was greeted by the skating rink he'd seen many nights previously. He sat down on one of the benches, setting his bag next to him and pulling out his skates with Yuuri doing the same. They both began to lace them up, Victor finishing first and heading over to the ice. He gave his blade covers to Yukko who set them on the board.

The ice glided under his skates as he made a couple warm up laps and jumps. Landing every single one so close to perfection. He was able to see the rink from his own eyes for once; be the one to be skating on the ice. Occasionally he would look over to see Yuuri and Yukko watching him intently.

Once he deemed he was warmed up enough, Victor skated over to the boards and stopped where Yukko was standing and watching. He leaned against the boards, his chin in his hands. "Have a specific program you want to see, Yukko?"

"Um," Yukko paused while she thought about it.

"Stay Close to Me. Isn't that you're favorite Yukko?" Yuuri quietly added his input.

"Oh yes! Definitely! Please, would you mind Victor?"

"It would be my pleasure," Victor replied.

"It's so beautiful, you really let your emotions show. I once read something that said it was rumored that you choreographed it to call out to your soulmate. Is that true?" Yukko asked. Victor could tell that Yuuri's facial expressions visibly changed with the mention of his soulmate. He figured Yuuri was glad that Yukko couldn't see the change.

"It's all up to your interpretation," Victor smiled slightly as he looked past Yukko to wink at Yuuri who was sitting on a bench. Yuuri's face quickly flushed and he looked down at his lap again.

With that, Victor pushed off and skated towards the middle of the rink to begin his program. This was definitely not what Victor thought would happen when he choreographed the routine. He never once imagined that he would be performing it in front of his soulmate. Sure, he created it as a way to call out to him. But never, not once, did Victor think that he would personally be performing it for his soulmate.

 _Yuuri, please listen to this, listen to me. This was meant for you, it always has been. Although, I didn't know it was you,_ Victor thought to himself as he began to perform the routine. He didn't need the music, he wished he could emulate Yuuri in the way that the Japanese skater seemed to be able to make music with his movements alone.

Whenever he would complete a part of the routine that brought him close to the side where Yuuri and Yukko watched, Victor would glance and see their faces full of awe. He could only imagine how this was basically a dream come true to them. There were times he remembered that he would watch them both get so excited over his programs. But that was just over a screen. This was real. This was right in front of them.

In the end, when he had finished, Victor stood holding his final pose. The rink remained quiet momentarily before multiple rounds of clapping began. Victor skated back over to the boards a large smile on his face when he saw Yukko, Yuuri, and the triplets applauding him. Although the triplets were slightly attached to their phones as they were watching the videos they had just taken.

"Victor that was absolutely amazing! It's even better in person!" Yukko exclaimed happily.

"I'm glad you think so. What about you, Yuuri?" Victor asked as Yuuri finally got up and walked over to the boards to stand next to Yukko.

"Beautiful," Yuuri responded, looking as though he wasn't entirely sure what to make of the current situation.

"You should come and show me something of yours," Victor suggested. "You know, so I can figure out where you're currently at."

"I, uh, don't really have anything," Yuuri meekly scratched the back of his neck.

"Oh, come on Yuuri. I know you have something!" Yukko added in.

"You did bring your skates, so you must have thought you were going to skate," Victor pointed out. "Nothing?"

"The last thing I practiced was your routine," Yuuri said quietly. "I loved it so much. I just had to."

"Well why don't you show me that then! I'll know it better than anyone else, after all I came up with it!" Victor suggested.

"But, you just did it and I could never live up to that. It would be terrible." Yuuri sighed as he talked. Victor could tell that he was beating himself up, or he was just disappointed.

"Okay, but Yuuri, it'll be fine. How can you get better if you don't know where you're at now?"

"He's right," Yukko agreed. "Yuuri, why do you have to be so stubborn? Just give me your skate covers and get on the ice!" After Yuuri had reluctantly taken off the guards and handed them to Yukko she gave him a light push on the back to get on the ice. "Okay, now go!"

Yuuri yelled a little when he was pushed, almost losing his balance. "Yukko! I wasn't ready! That wasn't fair," he pouted as he had grabbed onto the boards.

"Too bad, you should have been," Yukko just shrugged as Victor burst into laughter watching the two childhood friends interact.

"Show me what you've got, Yuuri," Victor instructed after he was able to compose himself enough to stop laughing. The other skater just nodded in response, skated a couple warm up laps and ended up in the middle, similar to what Victor had previously done.

As he began skating, Victor became almost entranced. He no longer heard the scraping of skates on ice but rather the music he was so used to that went with the program. Yuuri was able to create the music with his movements. The video that had prompted Victor's discovery jumped back into his mind. This was the program Yuuri was skating in it. It was the program Victor had created for his soulmate. It was almost a fantasy to see it performed by the one it was supposed to be dedicated to.

It was amazing. Victor was dumbfounded. This was a step in the right direction since it didn't seem as though Yuuri completely rejected him as a coach. Now to just get him to accept Victor as his soulmate. That was going to be the real challenge.

* * *

 **Thank you so much to everyone who's still sticking around despite my terrible update schedule. But good news! I have spring break next week so I hopefully will be able to write chapter 12! Also, I've been attempting to increase the words per chapter, so doing this takes me a bit longer. I can't crank out 5k word chapters every week. Though, in my absence I did actually write 2 chapters! Except the the other chapter is a future one, probably about chapter 14. Either way, I hope you guys enjoyed this one!**

 **I'd love to hear what you think :D**

 **Reviews, favorites, and follows are very much appreciated! ALSO THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR OVER 700 FOLLOWS MY MIND IS BLOWN**

 **As always this story is betaed by sandypenguin6!**

 **Thank you for reading :)**


	15. Chapter 12

Scrolling through his phone, Victor laid on his back on the floor of the main room of the Inn. He had received multiple messages from Chris.

' _So you went to Japan, Victor? Found that cute Japanese skater?'_

' _Come on Victor, you gotta tell me all the details.'_

' _Is he as cute as he was at the banquet?'_

' _Victooooooorrrrr answer meeeeee'_

Victor chuckled at the last one before shooting an answer back to Chris. ' _Yep, in Japan. He's really cute, his skating is seriously beautiful.'_

Not even a minute later another message from Chris came through. ' _So is he your soulmate? I mean that must be the reason you left so suddenly.'_

' _I think so at least but he-'_ Victor abruptly stopped typing as he took a moment to look up. The sight he was greeted with was Yuuri walking down the stairs, rubbing his eyes and yawning. The shirt he was wearing seemed to be a size, maybe two sizes too big, as it slipped off his shoulder. Victor's jaw seemed to hit the floor. This was too much that early in the morning.

' _My God, he's perfect,'_ Victor thought to himself as Yuuri continued down the stairs. He had to make a conscious effort to close his mouth.

Quietly, Yuuri murmured something in Japanese. Victor assumed it was _good morning_. Quickly, Yuuri fixed himself and switched to English.

"Morning Victor," Yuuri said before yawning and sitting down across from Victor.

The room was quiet as Victor attempted to speak but kept failing. Yuuri was just too much for him, his disheveled hair which he slightly pushed back and then fixed his glasses. He decided that this man would be the death of him, although he'd be happy with that death.

"G-good morning Yuuri," Victor finally stuttered out.

"You're up early," Yuuri commented as he slowly blinked his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm an early riser. Early bird gets the worm, as they say," Victor responded as he sat up and set his phone down next to him. It buzzed with another message from Chris.

' _I swear Victor you better be writing me a paragraph about how hot this guy is and not just sitting there with two words written.'_

Victor simply ignored his phone and turned his attention back to Yuuri.

"Not me, not at all. I'm more of a night owl," Yuuri said as he ran a hand through his hair in an attempt to straighten it out but instead just pushing it further back (which was a look Victor could get used to).

"Yuuri, I have an idea," Victor excitedly switched the topic as he remembered something that he really wanted to do.

"I'm not sure whether I should be excited or not..." Yuuri answered warily.

"You should definitely be excited!"

"Okay, so I shouldn't trust anything you're going to say."

"Not true, my Yuuri! Not true at all!" Victor grinned as he paused a moment in hope of creating suspense. He wasn't sure if he was successful because Yuuri just sat there looking extremely confused. Victor took a deep breath before exclaiming: "We should take a trip!"

"What," was Yuuri's one word answer to the proposal.

"We should take a trip," Victor repeated less excitedly, but still excited at the idea nonetheless.

"Where and, dare I ask, why?" Yuuri questioned as he pulled his shirt back up onto his shoulder. Victor was sure it would fall down again the next time he moved.

"Tokyo!" Victor exclaimed. The room remained silent after his one word answer. It seemed to hang in the air. Yuuri still looked at him confused and his head tilted slightly to the side. "You know, a change of scenery for training!" Victor attempted to explain.

"Okay?" Yuuri still seemed unimpressed by the plan.

"Come on, Yuuri! It'll be fun!"

"It seems like we have very different ideas of 'fun'," Yuuri sighed and looked down at his lap. "Tokyo is so crowded. Being around too many people doesn't help my anxiety." He let out a shaky laugh and commented under his breath: "God, I never thought I would ever admit that to _the_ Victor Nikiforov. I barely tell anyone."

Victor paused for a second before talking. "But you'll be with me. It'll be alright! I also promise I won't tell anyone if that's what you wish."

"Victor, you may be great at a lot of things but I have a feeling dealing with people with high levels anxiety isn't one of them. Heads up, you can't just say 'it'll be alright' and I'm fine. That's just not how these things work." Yuuri explained as he looked back up at Victor.

"But-"

"Give me a couple days to think about it," Yuuri said as he stood up, his shirt falling off of his shoulder again. He pulled it back up. "Give me some good reasons as to why we should go and I _might_ say yes."

Yuuri patted Victor's head once before walking past him and walking into what he assumed was the kitchen, most likely to grab some breakfast. Victor simply flopped back onto the floor, placed his hands over his face and sighed.

His words were muffled by his hands as he talked, "Why do I mess up _everything_ with Yuuri? It was a stupid idea, he was right. No…. I'll show him it's a great idea."

The buzzing of Victor's phone next to him is what made him finally remove his hands from his face and stop ignoring it. Chris had not stopped texting.

' _I swear Victor you better be writing me a paragraph about how hot this guy is and not just sitting there with two words written.'_

' _This isn't going to be a paragraph. JUST ANSWER ME VICTOR'_

' _Victor TELL ME ABOUT HIM'_

' _Oh my God Victor ANSWER ME'_

' _AHHHHHHHH'_

' _If you don't answer me I swear I will end this friendship. I need to know how hot this guy is.'_

As he read the messages, Victor couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. His fingers quickly tapped a reply after deleting the partial one that had been left.

' _Sorry Chris. I need advice'_

Quickly a new reply from Chris came in and he and Victor started a continuous conversation.

 _From [Chris]_

' _Oh the great Victor Nikiforov needs my help :o you're so amazing that there's nothing I could do'_

 _From [Victor]_

' _Haha really funny but seriously'_

 _From [Chris]_

' _I might help you if you anSWER ME ABOUT THIS SKATER'_

 _From [Victor]_

' _You're not letting that go are you?'_

 _From [Chris]_

' _Nope. But what do you need?'_

 _From [Victor]_

' _How do I show Yuuri that going to Tokyo is a good idea'_

 _From [Chris]_

' _That's a terrible idea'_

 _From [Victor]_

' _No it's not D:'_

 _From [Chris]_

' _That boy's got pretty bad anxiety. I've seen him break down a couple times at competitions when he thought no one was watching. Going to Tokyo probably wouldn't be the best thing for him especially with you considering he barely knows you. But you know what, do whatever you want. I'm not gonna stop you'_

 _From [Victor]_

' _CHRISSSSS'_

 _From [Chris]_

' _What? It's true. But I guess I'll help you… if you actually tell me about him'_

~oO0Oo~

Standing at the edge of the ice, Victor looked on as he watched Yuuri skating some cool down laps. His chin resting in his hand, he waited until Yuuri skated over to get off the ice and undo his skates before speaking.

"Okay, so Tokyo." Victor stated as Yuuri grabbed his blade guards and sat down to take off his skates.

"What about Tokyo?" Yuuri mumbled as he looked down at his skates.

"The trip?"

"Okay, and?" Yuuri looked up after he unlaced both of his skates.

Victor just sighed and rubbed his temples. "We should go to Tokyo for a trip."

Yuuri just nodded in understanding, waiting for Victor to continue talking.

"I think it'll be a great way for us to bond. After all, what type of coaching relationship can we have if we're not close?" Victor elaborated.

"Okay."

"And I think that this would be a goo- wait what?!" Victor cut himself off as he realized what Yuuri had said. "Did you just say yes?" Victor excitedly asked, his face bright.

"Well, I said 'okay', but yes, I'm accepting this trip. We can go," Yuuri said as he nodded slightly. Soon enough Victor threw his arms around him in his excitement. Yuuri simply tensed up at the contact.

"Oh thank you Yuuri! I'll make this a great trip!" Victor grinned into Yuuri's shoulder.

After a moment Victor felt a pressure on his head as he felt Yuuri poke his hair part. He slumped against the younger man. "So mean, Yuuri. Is it thinning that much?"

Yuuri just chuckled in response and pressed the palm of his hand to Victor's head. He ran a couple fingers through Victor's silvery hair.

"We should go and lock up for Yukko," Yuuri stated as Victor just nodded against his chest.

To Victor, this moment was what he wanted since he arrived in Japan. To be able to hold Yuuri and not have him immediately push him off. Although, Yuuri still tensed up at his touch, it wasn't complete rejection. And that was a step in a direction Victor was happy with.

* * *

 **So, I'm finally back with another chapter! In reality I've had this one written for a while but I always thought that I would add some more to it, but alas I never did. So I kept it like this. Hopefully doing this will help me get to writing the next chapter which is before another chapter I had already written and I'm excited to post. I hope this was alright :D Sorry it's kinda on the shorter side. Thank you again to wonderful beta sandypenguin6! I wouldn't be able to do this without her :)**

 **Thank you for reading! Reviews, favorites and follows are much appreciated! I would definitely love to hear what you think!**


	16. Chapter 13

With his suitcase packed by the door, Victor stood waiting for Yuuri. He was impatient, just wanting to head out as soon as possible. Occasionally, he would shift his suitcase as he fidgeted himself. He had packed himself what was probably more clothes than was needed, but after all, he was Victor Nikiforov. It was a given that he would probably go above and beyond in everything. Apparently even packing for weekend trips.

He would occasionally tap his fingers against the side of his thigh as he waited for Yuuri, which turned out not to be too long as there came the sound of someone rushing down the staircase into the first floor of the Inn. Yuuri came flying down the stairs, a duffle bag thrown over his shoulder, clearly smaller than Victor's suitcase, with Mari and Makkachin coming down after him.

While Mari was leisurely stepping down, Makkachin seemed to attempt to match Yuuri's pace and bounded down so he could begin to weave himself in between all of their legs. As he caught his breath from running down the stairs, Yuuri chuckled and crouched down to rub Makkachin's fluffy head. The poodle immediately sat on the floor, his tail wagging happily.

"Just like Vicchan," Mari murmured, a gentle smile on her face as she pulled a cigarette out of her inside pocket and watched her younger brother.

"Hmm?" Victor hummed in question as he turned to Mari, leaving Yuuri to play with a happy Makkachin.

"Yuuri had a poodle too," Mari answered. She kept her voice low so Yuuri couldn't overly hear her.

"Did he?" Victor asked even though he knew the answer. He easily remembered the night that he dreamed of Yuuri rushing to Yukko with a small brown poodle in his arms.

Mari nodded. "Yeah. His name was Vicchan."

 _That's what Yuuri named him,_ Victor thought to himself as Mari continued talking.

"Sadly, he passed a couple days before the last Grand Prix. Yuuri was a complete mess. It really screwed him up."

 _That's why he ended up in last. He didn't seem completely there. As though his mind was somewhere else, which it clearly was,_ Victor mentally noted.

"That's so sad," he finally spoke out loud. Momentarily, he looked over his shoulder when he heard laughing to see Yuuri lying completely on the floor and Makkachin standing on him licking his face. He couldn't help but chuckle a bit to himself as he turned back to Mari.

"It really was, it was terrible to watch him fall back into his depression." She kept her voice low as she twirled the cigarette between her fingers. "He stopped skating." There was a short pause before she spoke again. "Thank you so much for getting him back on the ice. It's where his heart lies, although he might tell you otherwise." Her mouth turned up at the corners as she stole a glance at her brother laughing on the floor. "I think you coming here will do him some good."

"I will do my best, Mari," Victor promised as he slightly bowed, hoping to show some respect. Mari just let a loud laugh at the sight.

"No need to bow, Victor." Quickly her voice turned serious. "Just don't hurt my brother. I swear, if you do..."

"I wouldn't want to find out what you would do to me," Victor finished for her, a slight smile on his face.

Mari nodded as she took a step closer to Victor and leaned close to his ear and whisper, "And I know why you're here. Not for coaching, but because he's your soulmate. I've known you were his since he was a kid."

Victor's eyes widened. He was actually Yuuri's soulmate. Yuuri wasn't incorrectly matched. Well, according to Mari he wasn't.

"He told me about his dreams and all the skating and everything matched so perfectly to what you had accomplished. It just made sense. But he doesn't believe it. He's never told anyone about it. I had figured it out," Mari finished.

"I'll see if I can change his mind," Victor whispered back, a smile on his face.

"Victor? Are we ready to go?" Yuuri quietly questioned, pulling Victor's attention away from Mari and back to his soulmate. He had gotten up from the floor, Makkachin walking over to Victor.

"Ah! Yes, sorry for keeping you waiting, Yuuri," Victor flashed one of his bright smiles as he answered.

"No, it's okay. I was just wondering."

"We'll head down to the train station in a minute."

"Okay," Yuuri softly answered before walking over to Mari and giving her a hug.

Victor knelt down to say goodbye to Makkachin and he could make out what Mari whispered to her brother: "If anything happens or you need me you know you can call me."

He could also make out Yuuri's response: "I know... I'll probably be fine with Victor."

Standing up, Victor waited for the siblings to part as he grabbed his suitcase handle and opened the door. The slight creak of the door and the sound of air rushing in seemed to make Yuuri let go of his sister and make his way over to Victor.

"Ready to go?" Victor asked as he held the door open.

"Yeah," Yuuri answered as he stepped outside a slight smile on his face.

With one final glance at Mari, Victor saw her smile before quietly mouthing the words ' _Take care of him.'_ Victor silently nodded, smiled, and walked out behind Yuuri, closing the door behind both of them.

"You didn't say good bye to your parents?" Victor spoke up after they had been walking towards the train station for a couple of minutes.

"Oh, they're out of town currently, they left early this morning. I said goodbye to them then," Yuuri responded after a couple seconds of delay. "The train station isn't too much farther," Yuuri pointed out, earning a nod from Victor. He had purchased the tickets the day that Yuuri had agreed to the trip, there was no need for them to rush to the station to buy them. They continued to walk at a leisurely pace, Victor simply enjoying being in his soulmate's company.

"So, what's Tokyo like?" Victor inquired, as he attempted to take a step closer to Yuuri as they walked, their hands occasionally brushing until Yuuri picked up his pace a little just to add space between them.

"Haven't you been there before?" Yuuri countered.

"Technically, yes. For a competition, but I've never been there as a tourist or for training." It was true, Victor hadn't previously stayed longer in Tokyo than Yakov had allowed. It was simple at the time: just go for the competition, stay a day before and a day after then head back to Russia for more training.

"Well, I haven't been there too much. But, there are a lot of people there, and some places are more crowded than others. Although it is very different from Hasetsu."

"I can imagine," Victor mumbled in response as he noticed Yuuri veer to the left and direct them both towards the station. For a moment, Victor picked up his speed to keep up with his soulmate.

"It's not very busy," Yuuri commented as they both walked in through the doors, only a couple people littered the room, and less than a third of the chairs were filled. After all, it was still fairly early in the morning.

"It really isn't," Victor responded as he guided them both over to the ticket counter. The lady sitting at the counter looked up from the book she was reading to smile at them. "English?" Victor questioned, and soon realized that she didn't know much, if any when she looked fairly confused then proceeded to shake her head no.

"I got this," Yuuri told Victor who handed him his phone with the tickets up on the screen. Victor thanked him as he watched Yuuri slip back into his native tongue and sort out everything in regards to the tickets with the lady. She scanned the codes of the tickets on the screen before saying something that made Yuuri turn around to face Victor. "We're all good."

"Thank you so much, Yuuri," Victor smiled as they both headed out after hearing someone over the intercom call out: ' _9 o'clock train headed to Tokyo, now boarding.'_

~oO0Oo~

Once they got off the train, they were both ambushed by a sea of people rushing by. Victor could almost immediately feel Yuuri tense up next to him. As a gesture he hoped was helpful, Victor gently wrapped his arm protectively around Yuuri's shoulders. The younger man simply grasped his bag tighter and leaned in towards Victor, probably just to get farther away from everyone that was pushing their way through.

"We'll head to the hotel?" Victor asked as he began to guide his soulmate out of the train station and out onto the street. Yuuri simply hummed in agreement, as he walked along with his coach.

The hotel itself wasn't too far of a walk from the station, so it only took them about five minutes to get to their destination. Of course, it was one of the top hotels in the area. Victor couldn't settle for anything less than the best, and he wanted Yuuri to be comfortable.

"Don't you think this is a little much?" Yuuri asked as he looked up at the large hotel that stood in front of him. It seemed to tower above both of them.

"Nonsense!" Victor exclaimed as he began to pull Yuuri into the lavish lobby of the hotel. He was immediately greeted when one of the workers noticed him.

"Ah! Mr. Nikiforov! You're here." The brunette walked over to them, her English slightly accented. "We're delighted to have you staying with us again," She added with a slight bow, which both Victor and Yuuri returned.

"Of course, this is a wonderful hotel," he replied with a smile that he continually gave to the paparazzi, which was far different than the one that he would give Yuuri.

"And you brought, your boyfriend…?" She asked, taking note of Victor's arm still around Yuuri who started to flush at her words.

"Oh no, I'm his coach," Victor clarified for her.

"I'm so sorry! My mistake." She attempted to make up for her previous assumption, earning a laugh from Victor.

"It's alright," Yuuri quietly mumbled as he awkwardly stood, listening to the conversation.

"Uh well, follow me, I'll go check you in and show you to your room." She smiled before leading them both over to the check-in desk, both Victor and Yuuri trailing behind slightly.

"You've stayed here before?" Yuuri questioned quietly. Victor simply hummed as a way to say yes as he kept his arm wrapped around Yuuri's shoulders and walked with him to the desk.

"Do you want me to move my arm?" Victor inquired as he gave Yuuri's shoulder a slight squeeze. He silently hoped that Yuuri wouldn't say yes.

After a moment's hesitation, Yuuri seemed to reluctantly respond. "No… I.. like it." Victor could barely make out the last couple words of what Yuuri said but it made him smile nonetheless. Especially when he felt Yuuri shift ever so slightly closer to him.

"You both will be in room 1105, which is on the 11th floor," she explained as she pulled out two room cards and placed them on the counter in front of her. Yuuri took both of them as Victor had both of his hands full, one carrying his suitcase and one wrapped around Yuuri's shoulders. "Would you like me to show you to your room?"

"Sure." Victor nodded as he turned to Yuuri for confirmation who simply nodded.

"Alright! Follow me!" the brunette cheerily said as she made her way out from behind the counter and started walking down one of the nearby hallways, towards the elevator.

Victor turned to face his soulmate to see how he was reacting. He could see Yuuri turning his head continuously in varying directions, his brown eyes wide as he took in everything around him: from the high arched windows that the morning sun started to seep through, to the expensive looking furnishings lining the large open areas. Victor was fairly certain that Yuuri had never stayed in a hotel as high end as this one, while for him it was the basics.

The lady stood by the elevator as the doors opened. She held her arm out as she invited both of the skaters in first before her. Once everyone was inside, she pressed the button for the 11th floor. She began talking about all the amenities that the hotel had, and Victor began to easily tune her out, not caring so much about the spa or the restaurant or any of it. Although he did notice Yuuri paying attention and occasionally nodding to show he was listening.

Instead, Victor found himself admiring the Japanese man standing next to him, who just so happened to move out from his arm. His attention was caught by the way the light in the elevator shined on his black hair which, if he remembered correctly, was extremely soft, and he had to resist the strong urge to run his fingers through it to prove whether or not he was right. He also noticed the apparent fact that Yuuri was wearing a jacket that looked to be a size too big, he figured it was probably to hide the fact that he let his athletic body go as he continued to stay off the ice. Victor made a mental note to work on that.

He was only broken out of his thoughts when he heard the elevator bell ding and Yuuri gently tugging at his jacket sleeve to get his attention to exit the elevator. Yuuri's eyes held what Victor could only describe as worry; he had spaced out.

"If you'll just follow me this way." The lady directed them out of the elevator and down the long hallway, one side completely covered by windows which showed a view of the city below them. Victor could just make out the ice skating rink that they were being allowed to use as a place to practice. They continued to follow her, first taking a right then continuing to walk farther before taking a left which put them right in front of the room with the number _1105_.

"And here you are! I hope you enjoy your stay." With a final smile and bow she left the two men at the closed door. Yuuri handed Victor one of the two room cards while he used the one he kept to open the door.

"This whole place is too much for me, Victor. I'm used to not as fancy hotels. You didn't have to do this for me," Yuuri commented as he swiped the card and pushed open the door.

"Yes I did," Victor smiled as Yuuri kept looking at him rather than the room on front of him. "You deserve to be treated like royalty once in a while, if not continually." Yuuri simply dismissed his comment with a chuckle as he turned to face the room and his jaw seemed to hit the floor.

"Victor, this is _too_ too much." Yuuri stepped into the room and set his bag down. Victor followed in more slowly, making sure to close the door behind him. He watched Yuuri make his way around the room, looking at everything.

"But Yuuri, it's not too much," Victor assured him.

"Are you sure? I mean you didn't have to spend this much money on me. I can only imagine how much this was. Oh gosh, this must have been a fortu-" Victor cut Yuuri off before he could get lost in his thoughts and continue rambling, by striding over to him and wrapping his arms around him. Almost immediately he could feel Yuuri slightly relax. That was a drastic improvement from earlier that day when he would start walking away from Victor when their hands would simply brush.

"Yuuri," Victor began calmly, "I promise it's completely fine. Don't worry about it. How about this, we get some food and do some sightseeing before we go to practice tonight? I have a new program for you that I think you'll love."

"Alright," Yuuri agreed. "Can I know what it is?"

"The program? Not yet. I had originally choreographed it for myself but I think it would fit you better," Victor finished with a smile as he pulled back and held Yuuri at arms length. Yuuri meekly smiled at his idol. "Sound alright?" Yuuri nodded. "Okay, so what would you like to do for food? My treat."

"I think we can just find something on our way."

"Ooo that seems adventurous of you, Yuuri! Come on, let's go!" Victor quickly grabbed his soulmate's arm and started pulling him out of the hotel.

~oO0Oo~

There were plenty of stores lining the streets that surrounded the hotel, not to mention the restaurants among the stores. They ended up settling on eating at a small ramen shop for a quick meal before heading back out to walk down the streets to shop. Occasionally, Victor would ask Yuuri for translations of any sign that wasn't in English.

A couple hours and lots of bags later, the sun was setting, prompting Victor to start heading back towards the hotel. "So we'll drop these bags off in the room and grab our skates and head to the rink?" Victor suggested.

"That's good," Yuuri nodded in agreement. "I'm excited to see this program you have for me," he added with a slight smile.

"Oh, are you now?" Victor smirked. "I think you'll be able to pull it off quite well." His mind immediately flew back to the banquet where he had first come to meet the beautiful Japanese skater. Although Yuuri had only become anything remotely close to bold after he downed, what, 15 or 16 flutes of champagne?

The program he had in mind, he thought Yuuri could easily pull off. After all he had successfully captured Victor's attention, and probably unintentionally seduced multiple people with his pole dancing. He snapped back to reality when he heard Yuuri chuckling, he already loved that laugh so much.

"If you say so, Victor. As long as it's not too sexual," Yuuri joked.

"Nothing more than you can handle," Victor smiled as they headed back to the hotel then to the rink, skates in hand.

~oO0Oo~

"VICTOR THAT IS EXTREMELY SEXUAL OH MY GOD I COULD NEVER DO THAT I WOULD UTTERLY EMBARRASS MYSELF!" Yuuri exclaimed very, _very_ loudly when Victor had finished showing him the routine. His voice was so loud that Victor was extremely glad that no one else was in the rink and they had it to themselves. He had pulled a couple strings to get a private card so they could get in after hours.

The program that Yuuri was claiming was too sexual, which Victor would highly argue that, no there are far more sexual programs out there, was set to the song _In Regards To Love: Eros._ He described it as pleasure after pleasure, so much so that it became overwhelming, a type of sexual love. The more he thought about it, Yuuri's claim of it being sexual made sense. He may have included the word sexual when he described it, but he was _Victor Nikiforov_ and he was not getting shot down.

"Yuuri," Victor calmly began as he skated over to the boards to lean his chin in his hand. "This program is perfect for you." Yuuri opened his mouth to protest but closed it when Victor held up a finger to silence him. "Trust me, I know."

"But-"

"Yuuri," Victor sighed as he straightened up and ran a hand through his long bangs. "As your coach, you should trust me. Come on, get over here with me!" He called out as he glided back out into the middle of the rink.

Victor watched Yuuri reluctantly pull off his skate covers and get on the ice. Now, he just needed Yuuri to realize how well it actually fit him.

After multiple attempted run throughs Victor figured that it would probably be beneficial to head back to the hotel and get some rest. He commented on Yuuri's incredible stamina, as the Japanese skater looked like he could keep going, before getting off the ice first. He could tell that Yuuri was starting to drift into his own mind and not pay as much attention to what was going on around him. Especially when Yuuri was getting off the ice and his toe pick got stuck in the ice, sending him forward into Victor's arms who just so happened to not have moved.

"I see you're finally falling for me," Victor said with one of his award winning smiles after he made sure that Yuuri was alright.

"You wish, Nikiforov," Yuuri responded, a smirk apparent on his face as he straightened himself and made his way over to a bench to remove his skates. Victor couldn't help but think how much he'd love to have his name be _Katsuki-_ Nikiforov, as opposed to simply Nikiforov.

Every single minute he spent with his soulmate he could feel himself fall more in love than he originally did at the banquet. He couldn't keep the smile off his face as they walked back to the hotel together, both smiling and laughing.

* * *

 **Oh boy I'm updating again :D I actually have a date for th next update! Along with Center Stage this will be updated on Friday June 23rd (I know it's not a Wednesday, forgive me) but it's my birthday! And I'm giving you guys updates as a gift from me to you :)**

 **Thank you once again to my wonderful beta (sandypenguin6) for reading over this on such last minute notice.**

 **I want it to be known that the next chapter is definitely one of my favorites :D**

 **Thank you guys for reading! I appreciate all of you who read this story :D**

 **Reviews, favorites and follows are appreciated. Thank you!**


	17. Chapter 14

The first thing Victor noticed when he abruptly woke up was that Yuuri wasn't in his bed in the hotel room. The second thing was his ringing phone, which had woken him up. Hastily he grabbed for his phone, silently hoping it wasn't a call saying that something happened to Yuuri. Checking the caller ID he noticed it was from the missing man himself.

Quickly, attempting to not lose a second of time, not knowing how long his phone had previously been ringing before he had woken up, Victor accepted the call and shoved the phone up against his ear. The sound he was greeted with, before he could say a word, was what sounded like Yuuri attempting to gather himself. As well as a faint car honk in the background.

"V-victor," Yuuri stuttered as he attempted to hide what sounded like crying to Victor. He decided immediately this wasn't good and quickly responded while he got out of the bed.

"Yuuri, are you okay?!" Victor asked urgently, his voice filled to the brim with concern.

"Ye- N- I-I don't know," Yuuri continued to stutter and cut himself off as his voice noticeably cracked. Victor could tell that Yuuri had been crying, or still was and was attempting to hide it.

"Yuuri, where are you?" Victor ran his hands through his long bangs in an attempt to calm himself as he paced the room. This wasn't good, no it wasn't good at all. It sounded as though Yuuri was breaking down crying. Possibly a panic attack, Victor noted. He was able to recall multiple different occasions he had dreamed Yuuri suffering from them and just crying it all out.

"I'm n-not sure," his voice was barely above a whisper, which caused Victor to strain to hear it. It was also still wavering, almost as if Yuuri was worried that Victor would be upset that he didn't know where he was.

"Okay Yuuri, can you try to calm down? I'll be there as soon as I can, I just need your help to find you," Victor gently and calmly instructed as he stuck the phone between his shoulder and ear so he had his hands free to hastily put on some proper clothes.

"Mmhm." There was a pause as he seemed to almost hiccup. "I'm trying," his voice was wavering more and more as Victor could hear Yuuri cracking and breaking down again.

"Shhh," Victor attempted to calm Yuuri. "Can you see any type of landmark? Or some restaurant or business?" Victor grabbed his wallet and room key off of the table in the room and shoved them both in his pockets. He patiently waited for Yuuri to respond.

"Uhh, a flower shop?" Once again his voice barely reached above a whisper. It sounded like talking to Victor had brought him back down a little, off the verge of crying every moment.

"Yuuri, can you see a name of the flower shop?"

"Agape?" Yuuri hesitated on the name as he attempted to pronounce it.

Victor chuckled inwardly as he heard the name. After all that was one of the names of the songs for which he had created a skating program, for a potential competition. The complete opposite of the one he choreographed for Yuuri. Victor quickly redirected his attention back to Yuuri, focusing on what was currently going on.

"Got it, I'll be there as soon as I can." Victor searched up the flower shop on his phone as he kept Yuuri on the call. The address pulled up on the screen after a moment's pause as it loaded. He moved to hit the end call button so he could run into the city and find his soulmate. But Yuuri's voice stopped him, almost as though he could tell what Victor was about to do.

"Please stay on the phone?" In the short time since Victor had stopped talking, Yuuri was brought back to the verge of tears, clearly audible in his voice.

"Yes... yes of course, Yuuri. I'm heading out now," Victor stated as he checked to make sure that he had the room key in his pocket and moved to open the door. "Yuuri, I'll have to take some breaks to check the directions. Is that alright?" The door clicked closed behind him and he started to make his way down the hallway to the front of the hotel.

"Mmhmm," to Victor it sounded as though Yuuri was biting down on something, as to keep from completely breaking down. The sound was slightly muffled.

Outside, the sky was dark with only some neon lights illuminating the night. Very few people lined the streets, only a couple cars were driving on the roads. Victor looked around momentarily before glancing at his phone and then taking off running in the direction it pointed him towards.

"I'll be there soon," Victor said into the phone as he turned a corner, as instructed to by the directions. The entire time he was stuck thinking as to why Yuuri was out in Tokyo in the middle of the night, by himself no less.

"Please... I need you." Yuuri hesitated to add the last part, but it made Victor's heart jump slightly nonetheless.

Once again, Victor brought his phone down from his ear to check the directions. Another left, it said. A couple more blocks, by the looks of it. While running down the street, only a couple people bothered to look at him. Most didn't care as they were a little too drunk, their focus only on what was right in front of them.

Up in the distance there was a sign, ever so slightly illuminated by the brighter signs and street lights surrounding it, allowing Victor to barely make out what it said; _Agape: Florist._ The first thought that flashed through his mind was that he'd almost found Yuuri after what seemed like an eternity of running.

"Yuuri, I see the florist. Where are you?" Victor asked as he slowed down and came to a stop at the storefront. There was a pause over the phone and a slight sound which Victor wasn't entirely sure of. It was followed by the clacking sound of what seemed like Yuuri's phone dropping.

Soon enough the fairly quiet air was broken by sobs coming from a side alley near the building.

"Oh Yuuri," Victor mumbled quietly as he ended the phone call, shoved his phone in his pocket and ran into the alley.

When he rounded the corner of the alley he was greeted with the sight of Yuuri sitting on the ground with his legs pulled up to his chest and his face cupped in his hands as his sobs filled the air.

"Yuuri," Victor called; not too loud but loud enough for the other man to lift his head up and meet his eyes.

"Victor," Yuuri cried in between sobs, not making any move to get up. Victor rushed over as quickly as he could and sat across from his soulmate.

"I'm so so sorry, Yuuri. I wasn't there for you." Victor pulled Yuuri close to him gently, cupping the back of his head; his fingers tangled in raven hair, doing what he witnessed Mari do in similar situations when Yuuri was younger.

Yuuri clutched to the front of Victor's shirt and continued to cry. He didn't stop quietly repeating his soulmate's name.

"Shhhh it's okay, Yuuri. I'm here now, it's alright." He started to softly stroke the back of Yuuri's head in an attempt to calm him down. The sobs didn't seem to be slowing down or becoming quieter, rather they continued to stay steady.

"You're just going to leave me," Yuuri mumbled quietly, sobbing between each word. Tears continued to run down his face and onto Victor's shirt. Victor was shocked to hear those words.

"No... no, I promise I'll be here for you. I never plan on leaving you, Yuuri," he confided as he let his nose rest in his soulmate's black hair. It smelled like the hotel's shampoo but yet it still reminded him of Yuuri.

"Liar," Yuuri exclaimed as he beat his fist against Victor's chest with so little force behind it. After each hit, rather each tap, he would clench the fabric in his fist and then let his hand drop. Then he would repeat it. "Liar. Liar. Liar!"

Victor just let him continue, knowing fully that no matter what he said it wouldn't change Yuuri's thoughts. It would be better to just let him get it out.

"There's no way you're staying!" Yuuri cried out as he looked up to meet Victor's eyes. Tears were streaming down his face, his cheeks were red, and some snot was coming out of his nose. "I'm just a burden to you! I'll hold you back. I don't deserve it. I don't deserve _you_ ," he added in a completely defeated voice.

"Yuuri, please look at me?" Victor asked as he attempted to run a thumb over Yuuri's cheek. Although it was difficult when Yuuri began to shake his head against Victor's shirt.

"No."

"Please," he began to plead.

"I'm a burden to you, that's all I am. Nothing more."

"You're not Yuuri, I promise you."

"You're a terrible liar!"

"I'm not lying, but I need you to look at me. Please Yuuri. I'm begging you." The whole conversation began to hurt Victor's heart. He didn't want Yuuri to feel this way. Not in the slightest.

"I'm not listening to your lies," Yuuri gasped for breath as he continued to sob.

"They're not lies," Victor let out a sigh as he began to stroke the back of Yuuri's head, "I mean everything I'm saying. If you'd only listen-"

"You're just going to come in here do your princely thing then pack everything up and leave. Like that! Gone! No more! I'm just another heart for you to break." Yuuri interrupted Victor as he pressed his face closer to Victor's chest. He could feel the hot tears through the fabric. "I'm not getting played like that-"

"Yuuri, I would never do that. I flew across the world to come be with yo-"

"Liar!" Yuuri burst out. "I've seen the people you ' _loved'_."

"Yuuri, what do you mean?" Victor questioned quietly as he kept trying to gently rub Yuuri's back. His mind was racing since he had no idea what Yuuri meant.

There was a pause as Yuuri attempted to calm his breathing but ended up choking on his words while talking. "Those… Those people-" He unintentionally cut himself off as he sobbed again and Victor pulled him closer, his heart breaking more every second.

"What people…?" Victor trailed off as he realized what Yuuri was talking about. He mentally cursed himself for being so stupid. Yuuri was talking about the flings he had when he was younger. The flings that he had without thinking about how his soulmate would be affected. He could see now that it was probably one of, if not _the_ worst mistakes he made his entire life. The sobbing mess in his arms was enough proof. "Oh Yuuri, those people mean nothing to me."

"Oh they mean nothing to you, do they?! You talked to them how you talk to me! And you just left them! I'm not going to be next!"

"I was stupid, I know," Victor added quietly. "But I promise I won't ever abandon you."

Yuuri seemed to pay his words no mind as he continued, choking back sobs. "Do you how it feels to see you bring someone into your bed repeatedly?! It hurts. It hurts like hell! And you never even cared about _me_! Didn't care I existed!"

"I found you, I flew here specifically for yo-"

"How can I trust anything you say?! That crap you fed to the media about caring, about finding your soulmate!" Yuuri cried out as he hit his hand against Victor's chest again, although it was still weak, his voice carrying more power than his fist. "That bullshit," he added in a whisper.

"I learned early that you give the media what they want, not necessarily the truth," Victor attempted to explain.

"And you didn't see anything wrong with that?! You knew your soulmate, that _I,_ was out there somewhere and I'd want to see that you were being this perfect person?! Never thought that I'd see it whenever I went to sleep?!" Yuuri began to raise his voice, his sobs turning more into wet anger, hot tears still rolling down his face.

"Well, I uh never thought-"

"Of course you didn't think! I always thought there was something wrong with me! That.. That I wasn't enough for you, that you had to find someone else. Someone better." His voice trembled only slightly while he talked, the anger still fairly prevalent.

"But, Yuuri, you're absolutely beautiful," Victor said in an attempt to dig himself out of the ditch that he knew he basically flung himself into, while proceeding to trap himself further with every statement. He tried to cup Yuuri's face and run a thumb over his cheek, brushing away some of the tears. He was denied as Yuuri quickly pushed it away.

"You're going to start with that now?! Oh yes, why don't you tell me I'm beautiful like you did to all those other people! With as much meaning as it had then! You are such a terrible liar Victor Nikiforov," Yuuri finished, his voice beginning to tremble as he started to fall back into the heavy sobs. He pressed his face back into Victor's shirt, his body shaking as he cried.

"You're horrible," Yuuri muttered, his words cutting deep into Victor's heart as each of them were true. Each one accompanied by a weak hit against his chest.

"You're selfish."

"Self centered."

"Greedy."

"A liar."

Victor knew he was right, completely right. He had every reason to be angry with him. After all, Yuuri saw sides of him even the most invasive paparazzi didn't. Yuuri was the one hurt by his actions, the one breaking down in a back alleyway. Not his fans, not the media. But _Yuuri._ The man he continued to fall more in love with every moment. The man who deserved the world. The man that was so sweet. _Yuuri,_ the person that Victor in no way deserved, and he knew it too.

"You're right, you really are. I'm horrible for everything I put you through. I know nothing I could say would probably change your mind, but I promise you with all of my heart that I'm not lying. Just look at me?" He could feel Yuuri shake his head no. He wasn't sure how Yuuri still was crying and wasn't completely out of tears.

"Please?"

Another head shake, another denial.

"Yuuri?"

Giving in, Yuuri brought his face up again.

"You matter to me. So much more than you could probably realize. I want to stay with you, I want to know you, all of you. From your skating all the way to these breakdowns. I've been seeing you struggle with them for so many years and every single time it hurts me because I could never help. But I'm here now, I can hold you in my arms. Yuuri, please listen to me." Victor spilled his heart out. He wanted Yuuri to absolutely understand how he felt. "I know I'm the reason for this. I'm sorry about everything, I swear.

"You can believe whatever you want about me being your soulmate. Just let me help you now, I can't stand to see you like this. Let me try and fix what I screwed up." The tears that he had been trying to hold back started to form at the corners of his eyes. Seeing someone he already cared so much about being completely broken down and crying in a back alley broke his heart. Not just in two, but rather shattered it. "I'll prove myself, just give me a chance. I won't leave you."

Hoping to help Yuuri calm down a little bit more, Victor pulled him closer into a hug with his arms wrapped around his situated his face almost in the crook of his soulmate's neck as he attempted to slow his breathing with the occasional harsh sob still leaving his system.

"You promise?" Yuuri quietly breathed out.

"I promise you," Victor murmured back, stirring some of Yuuri's hair. "Yuuri, can I ask where you were headed?"

"The skating rink."

"Why?"

"Reasons," his voice seemed to become laced with the tone that came with tiredness.

"Explain everything to me later, you seem worn out."

"Mmhm," Yuuri agreed as he slightly nodded his head against Victor's neck.

"We'll get you back to the hotel," Victor told him before softly kissing the top of his head, something Yuuri either didn't notice or didn't bother to bring up. Whichever it was, it remained a mystery to Victor.

"Can I just stay here for a minute?" Yuuri asked quietly, his breathing still heavy in his attempt to calm down.

"If that's what you want," Victor replied, pulling Yuuri closer to him. Yuuri kept his hands gripping the fabric of Victor's shirt. He didn't mind, though. Yuuri was calming down, and if this is what he needed from Victor then that's what he would do.

They remained that way for a while, Yuuri seeming to cling onto Victor. As though he were the only island in an entire ocean. His lifeline.

"Can you walk?" Victor inquired after a couple minutes as he pulled himself away from Yuuri whose face and eyes were still red. Victor was almost completely sure that he saw something flash in his soulmate's face. Possibly a slight sadness that he was letting go of him.

"I'm pretty sure," Yuuri answered as he hesitantly nodded his head.

Victor stood up and held his hand out to Yuuri who momentarily hesitated before taking it in his own. Once he was standing, he almost immediately dropped it, grabbed his phone off of the ground and began walking himself, Victor trailing behind him before catching up.

The neon lights seemed dimmer and also slightly blurred. Victor quickly realized that the latter was because he was still tearing up. Quickly he swiped his hand across his face to wipe away the tears. He couldn't cry, he needed to be strong for Yuuri. He may have just poured his heart out to him but that didn't change the fact that Yuuri still needed a sturdy rock at that particular moment. Even though he was the reason Yuuri needed something to cling to. The rock and raging ocean were one in the same, Victor was both.

~oO0Oo~

When they returned to the hotel room, Yuuri insisted on just laying down to sleep. Victor wasn't the most keen on the idea but let Yuuri have his way.

"Good night, Yuuri," Victor said as he reached over to turn off the only light left on in the room. In the dark he could just make out the silhouette of Yuuri, who was laying on his side facing the other end of the room.

"Mmhm," Yuuri murmured in agreement.

Victor rolled from his side onto his back and stared up at the ceiling. The ceiling was quite boring. Instead, he had himself focus on listening to the sound of Yuuri's breathing. It was still shallow, not becoming deeper as though he had fallen asleep. He continued to listen for what seemed like forever.

He could hear the blankets move as Yuuri shifted into what Victor assumed was a more comfortable position. He laid there for a moment before shifting again. It continued in this way for what seemed like hours. Victor didn't fall asleep, or come any where close to it, during that time.

Continuing to lay there, Victor heard the soft creak of the bed as Yuuri moved; just shifting again, Victor assumed. That was until he saw Yuuri standing next to his bed, pillow in hand.

"Victor, can I sleep with you? I can't calm down enough to sleep," Yuuri muttered, barely above a whisper; as though he was scared that someone else would hear him.

"Of course," Victor answered as he shifted over to one side to allow Yuuri to slip in next to him. Yuuri quickly climbed in and wrapped himself in the blanket. "That never meant you could hog all the blankets, Yuuri," Victor said while laughing, bringing a slight smile to Yuuri's face.

"But I'm cold." Yuuri smirked, clearly more calm than he had been earlier. Victor thought that he got calmer when they were closer, he wasn't sure though.

"I'll be cold now," Victor pouted. "Guess I'll just have to make do." He grinned slightly before quickly wrapping his arms around Yuuri who squeaked a bit at the sudden hug. "Now we can both be warm."

"That doesn't mean you have to suffocate me, Victor!"

"Oops! Sorry," Victor chuckled as he repositioned his body in a way to make it easier for Yuuri to breathe. "Better?"

"Yeah."

Yuuri let out a sigh against Victor's chest as he settled in. It was nice, as well as calming.

"You won't let go?" Yuuri breathed out.

"Not willingly, no." Victor replied as he placed his head right above Yuuri's and began to softly draw circles and other patterns on his back. He could feel Yuuri's body relax with it, although he didn't wrap his arms around Victor's body. Rather he kept them between their bodies, clutching the pillow he brought.

"Yuuri, I will stay with you as long as you want me to. If you don't want me here I'll leave. I'll go back to Russia…and leave you alone. But if you rather I stay, I'll be here for you, I promise."

"I want to believe you," Yuuri mumbled, his voice half muffled by the pillow in his hand, "but it's hard." He added even more quietly, almost impossible for Victor to hear. "I really, really want to."

Victor smiled slightly in the dark. At least Yuuri didn't completely hate him.

"Just sleep for now. We can figure it out later," Victor breathed, gently stirring some of Yuuri's hair as he continued to trace the circles. "It'll be alright."

He could feel Yuuri nod his head in agreement and before long his breathing had deepened and evened out, meaning that he had fallen asleep. Victor breathed a sigh of relief. Yuuri was okay. He was sleeping. He couldn't even register that he was laying there with his arms wrapped around the person he had fallen hopelessly in love with.

Every single night he had fallen more and more in love with the person he was soulmates with. Every time he would notice Yuuri falling back into a panic attack, he just wanted to wrap him in his arms like he was doing now. He was finally here to help. Victor could just hope that Yuuri would eventually accept him and want him to stay.

Victor didn't want to leave; he had no desire to whatsoever. He wanted to keep falling more in love every single day. After every new discovery about the person Yuuri was. All the ups and downs; he wanted to be there for them. The final thought he had before falling into a deep sleep along with Yuuri was that he wanted to _stay by his side and never leave._

* * *

 **First of all, I'm sorry that this update is on a Friday instead of the usual Wednesday. Although, I did say that I would be updating today in the last chapter update :o Anyway! The reason I'm updating this story today, if you didn't know, is that today is my birthday :D So, as a gift from me to all of you, I present this chapter!**

 **This was also my first time writing anything remotely close to angst. But, I think I did alright. I mean, my beta and I were both crying during this- while she was editing and while I was writing. Hopefully I pulled at least one tear from you guys? But, now you guys know where a lot of Yuuri's issues stem from-**

 **This was definitely one of my favorite chapters to write, simply because of the emotion that was put into it, it also is one of my favorite chapters overall in this story. But, if you had too much of the angst go and check out Center Stage (also updated today :O) full a story that is basically all just fluff.**

 **Also, a big thank you to Emmeraldz on Ao3 for bringing my attention to the whole thing with Victor sleeping with other people! It almost completely went out of my mind, so I thank you for your comment :)**

 **As always, I hope you enjoyed reading! A big thank you to everyone who took the time to read.**

 **Favorites, follows, and reviews are always appreciated! I love to hear what you guys think about the story :)**


	18. Chapter 15

It was warm. It was comforting. It was _Yuuri._

He was the first thing that Victor saw when he blinked open his eyes from the morning sun. The slightly orange light hit Yuuri's black hair, making sections appear brown. A soft smile pulled at the corners of Victor's mouth as his blue eyes darted back and forth, marveling at Yuuri's features.

Everything was soft, no harsh lines or angles. He figured that it was most likely from Yuuri's time off from skating, but it seemed fitting, with Yuuri being as gentle and kind as he was.

Sometime during the night, Yuuri had apparently lost his hold of the pillow between them and had wrapped his arms around Victor instead. The pillow was squished to basically nothing as Yuuri unknowingly moved closer to him during the night. He had also managed to tangle his legs with Victor's, clearly at peace.

Victor still had his arms wrapped gently around Yuuri, his hands resting on his back. His eyes continued to wander until they landed on Yuuri's cheeks. They were still tear stained from the previous night. Victor silently hoped that Yuuri hadn't started crying at some point during the night.

The tears that were his fault. He couldn't help himself when he moved one of his hands to gently run a thumb over Yuuri's cheek in an attempt to rub it away. Unfortunately, he only succeeding in making Yuuri's eyes slowly blink before they shot open completely.

He mentally cursed himself for being so stupid as to wake Yuuri up. Especially when he noticed Yuuri go stiff in his arms and attempt to throw himself as far away from Victor as he could. As quickly as he could, Victor reached forward and grabbed Yuuri's waist as to keep him from falling off the side of the bed.

"Yuuri," Victor sighed in relief as Yuuri was securely back laying on the bed, although on the edge. "It's alright. No need to be so excited." Victor forced himself to smile as worry filled his eyes. He figured Yuuri was so jumpy from waking up next to him as it probably wasn't one of his preferred things at this point.

After laying in Victor's arms for a couple moments Yuuri untangled himself and rushing into the bathroom. Soon enough, Victor could hear the shower turn on. He let out a sigh as he sat up, the blanket falling around his lap, and placed his chin in his hand. Everything just seemed to be going wrong. First, Yuuri had broken down crying in a back alleyway last night, which he learned was completely his fault. That was another thing that had gone wrong. Just add that to the list of _Everything Victor Nikiforov Has Done Wrong._ And that wasn't even all. Just moments earlier, Yuuri had been sleeping so peacefully and instead of waking up calmly he almost threw himself off the bed they had shared.

Victor shook his head, silver hair falling in his face. Chris was right, this trip was a complete failure. Although, he did learn what was causing most of Yuuri's distress: _him._ Maybe now he could actually help his soulmate instead of just standing by and watching. The only thing that remained constant while his mind was all over the place was the running water of the shower.

It clicked almost immediately in his mind that Yuuri hadn't brought a change of clothes in with him. A smile appeared on Victor's face as he came up with an idea.

In an attempt to be a good soulmate, Victor got up off the bed and made his way towards Yuuri's bag, sitting on the floor next to the opposite wall. He pulled out a set of clothes which Yuuri had previously folded together. Victor crossed the room again, this time walking towards the closed bathroom door.

Before he knocked on the door, Victor took note that the water was no longer running. Yuuri had probably turned it off during the time that Victor had been walking around the room. In his mind, Victor found that he had what he believed to be the only two options, either wait for Yuuri to call out explaining that he needed clothes and Victor would come to his rescue. Or just simply open the door and leave the clothes for Yuuri.

The latter was definitely the best choice. One hundred percent. Absolutely the best choice. Completely logical. Okay, maybe it wasn't the _best_ and Victor knew it. But, he was going to do it anyway.

He pushed open the door and his vision was almost completely filled with the steam that filled the small bathroom. "Yuuri," Victor mumbled as he blinked a couple times, his vision clearing. "I brought you some clothes-" He stopped part of the way through his sentence as he noticed the sight in front of him.

Yuuri was standing in front of the mirror with a towel wrapped around his hips as he used another to dry his wet, slicked back hair. Victor knew that his mouth was probably hanging open at the sight. To him, Yuuri looked as beautiful as he always did. Although Yuuri would probably argue that he wasn't beautiful. He no longer had the abs that Victor assumed he had when he was skating and exercising more regularly. Instead his sides were still soft. Victor had to mentally restrain himself from reaching out and squeezing them like he would have liked too. Yuuri would probably not appreciate that.

It seemed that Yuuri was in a similar daze as Victor as he didn't move from his position, rather he just stood with his eyes wide. They stayed like that for a minute, Victor with his mouth on the floor as he admired his soulmate, Yuuri wide eyed and shocked.

Finally snapping out of it, Yuuri spoke up. "Victor!" Victor sheepishly smiled as Yuuri snatched the clothes from his hands and proceeded to slam the door shut on him.

Another thing to add to his list of everything he's done wrong. That list must have been a mile long, just in the previous days alone.

Completely defeated, Victor threw himself back onto the bed and stared up at the ceiling. He laid there until he heard Yuuri come out and sit on the other bed, now fully clothed. Rolling over onto his side, Victor rested his chin on his hands and looked over at Yuuri who was scrolling through his phone.

"It's going to rain today," Yuuri said quietly.

"Is it really?" Victor questioned.

"Mmhm," Yuuri hummed in response, not acknowledging the situation they both were in just moments previously. That was something Victor was very glad for. "Remember your umbrella."

"I will, I will," Victor assured. "I had planned on some practice this morning. The rink is closed to the public so I figured it would be perfect." Yuuri simply nodded in agreement.

"Yuuri, about last nigh-"

"So are you going to get dressed? Or are you going out without a shirt?" Yuuri questioned, completely avoiding Victor's question. It was understandable, he probably wouldn't want to talk about it for a while and Victor didn't feel the need to push him any further.

"Well… I thought you liked it," Victor responded, not sure if he was attempting to sound flirty. But, that's sure how it came out sounding like as Yuuri quirked an eyebrow up, looked over the rim of his glasses and lowered his phone. _Shit,_ Victor immediately thought as he added yet _another_ thing to his ever growing list.

"Victor, are we doing this?"

"Doing what?" Victor asked in an attempt to act coy as he placed a finger on his cheek.

"You trying to flirt with me."

"What?" Victor maneuvered so that he was sitting cross legged and was able to look directly at Yuuri, who had set his phone down next to him. "That is not what is happening."

With a sigh, Yuuri placed his face in his hands, covering it completely. Oh now he did it; Victor knew it. He expected that any minute Yuuri could quite possibly break into tears. How many times was it that Yuuri had cried in his arms? Taking a moment to think about it, he realized that it had only happened twice, but that was still two times too many. Counting the time at the banquet he was beyond drunk and was overreacting to everything. He did not need to see it another time, although this time Yuuri would probably want to stay as far away from him as possible.

"Do you really think I believe that?" Yuuri asked, his voice slightly muffled by his hands before he lifted his face back up. "You're a horrible liar."

Immediately, Victor felt his mind flash back to the previous night when Yuuri was hitting, well more so tapping, his chest in anger and called him the same thing.

"This isn't what I really need right now," Yuuri elaborated. "I don't need you flirting. I need you to just help me. After all, isn't that what you came here to do?" Victor opened his mouth in hope that he could get a word in, but Yuuri silenced him as he raised his hand. "Just go get ready so we can head down to the rink."

In compliance with what Yuuri said, Victor nodded as he stood up and began to make his way over to the other side of the room where he had his suitcase. When he passed by Yuuri he had to repress the urge to go and give the younger man a hug. He really _really_ wanted to, but Yuuri probably didn't want him to. Now was not the time to add more to his list. God, when did that list become a thing? The answer to that could either be the previous night or in his late teenage years. Victor wasn't happy with either answer as it shouldn't exist. Afterall, he was _the_ Victor Nikiforov. He wasn't supposed to do anything wrong.

Grabbing his clothes, he walked into the bathroom before turning on the shower and taking off his clothes. He stepped in after taking a moment to glance at his reflection in the mirror. His hair was disheveled, he was a complete _mess._ The slight sparkle he saw in his blue eyes was gone. Instead, they were filled with sadness, no longer bright. That was only after one trying night, not months and months of hardships. Just _one_ night. God, Yuuri really was going to be the death of him, and not in the way he had originally thought. He decided, right then, that he needed to fix this.

Finally, he stepped into the shower, the water a lot hotter than he had originally planned. But it was only fitting; it seemed a good distraction from everything else. Running a hand through his hair, Victor slicked it back. It was already soaked.

' _Just let me fix everything with Yuuri, he deserves so much. I apparently can't give that to him,'_ Victor thought to himself, full of despair. ' _I need to think of something, something to win him over.'_

' _Yuuri did say that it was going to rain today. And things about umbrellas… Umbrellas..'_ He began to repeat in his mind until it clicked, ' _I could "forget" my umbrella. Then, I could share with Yuuri… That would work.'_

Victor finished his shower as a smirk formed on his face. He figured it was a good plan. Definitely a good plan, much better than when he walked in on Yuuri earlier.

~oO0Oo~

"Yuuri! That's beautiful! Your footwork is exceptional, but the entire thing is missing _something_ ," Victor clapped his hands together as Yuuri stood in the center of the rink with his arms wrapped around himself. His breathing was heavy as he had run through the routine multiple times consecutively.

"Something?" Yuuri inquired as he skated over to where Victor was standing behind the boards and leaned his arms against them.

"Yes…" Victor tapped a finger against his chin, "Like you're not fully grasping the concept of _Eros."_

"Well, it is pretty sexual and that's not really something I'm used too." Yuuri suggested.

"True, true. Anyway, I think we'll stop there for today. We could go do some shopping or just spend some time together," Victor added with a soft smile as Yuuri made his way off the ice and over to the benches to untie his skates. After he was finished, Yuuri put them in his bag as Victor made his way to sit next to him on the bench.

"Yeah, I guess that works," Yuuri confirmed as he slipped back into his sneakers.

"Time to go then!" Victor exclaimed as he hopped up off of the bench, pulling Yuuri up next to him, earning a slight squeak from the younger man. Yuuri snatched up his bag as Victor happily pulled him towards the door. "There's so much you can show me…" Victor trailed off as he pushed the door open and stood under the awning outside of the rink. Rain poured down, both of them slipped on their jackets that they had grabbed on their way out.

"Victor…" Yuuri sighed as he glanced at the man standing right next to him, "You didn't bring your umbrella did you?"

With a slight chuckle, Victor responded, "Um, no I didn't."

"I even reminded you." Yuuri shook his head in disappointment.

"I know, I know. I guess we'll have to share," Victor suggested. Reluctantly, Yuuri walked out into the rain after opening the umbrella for Victor to come join him. For a moment, Victor stood still before Yuuri forced a cough which snapped him out of it and he walked forward, ducking under the umbrella.

"Yuuri… I think it would be better if I held the umbrella, I'm taller," Victor commented as he stood slightly hunched over from the height of the umbrella.

"Fine," Yuuri grumbled as he pressed the handle into Victor's outstretched hand. The umbrella was positioned at a more comfortable height for the both of them. "It'd be better if you actually brought your own but _no."_ Yuuri was clearly itching to head to wherever they were headed, neither one knew where that was exactly. It also seemed as though he just continued to get more and more annoyed with the situation. Hoping to please his soulmate, Victor started down the street, Yuuri keeping up with him, under the umbrella and out of the rain.

"I think the rain is kind of calming," Victor spoke up after a couple minutes of walking to nowhere in particular with no conversation. "It just always relaxed me. Y'know what I mean?"

"No." Yuuri responded curtly.

"Oh." Victor continued talking but none of his words had too much meaning to them. He was talking just for the sake of talking. Just something to fill the void of silence that seemed to appear whenever he stopped talking.

There were plenty of times Victor could recall when Yuuri was breaking down crying in his room with the sound of rain pounding against the windows was a background melody. Try as he may, Victor would lose count of how many times this had happened. To Yuuri, the rain must equate to horrible times, days that he was weak and vulnerable. Most likely due to some fault of Victor's.

As a complete opposite, Victor grew up with an appreciation of the rain as well as the snow. His mother would insist that they go out and play in it. Or dance in it when the rain was still coming down. Either way they both always ended up with wet hair and a huge smile.

There had to be a way to make Yuuri love the rain the same way he did.

Victor was going to find it.

As he slipped out of his thoughts he realized that he had stopped talking. How long ago did he stop? Victor wasn't sure. Yuuri wasn't even looking his way, instead at the walls of the partially secluded street they were walking down. The rain was still coming down, more lightly than it was previously.

Victor closed the umbrella as he spoke up. "Yuuri, dance with me."

"Huh?!" Yuuri asked in surprise, partially from Victor's request as well as the shock at the fact that rain drops began falling on his head. Slight annoyance tinted his voice.

"Yuuri, dance with me?" Victor asked instead of it being a statement as he put the portable umbrella in the bag he was carrying before holding his hand out to Yuuri. He smiled as Yuuri's eyes darted back and forth, trying desperately to try and take in the current situation.

"But it's raining!" Yuuri attempted to protest as Victor took his soulmate's hand and laced their fingers together. Yuuri noticeably stiffened at the gesture.

"Exactly! This is the best time," Victor said as he pulled Yuuri closer to him and wrapped an arm around his middle. His hold was loose, Yuuri could get out of it at any point he wanted but he remained. Possibly wanting a better explanation from Victor. "Dancing in the rain is the best. The sound of raindrops becomes your music mixed with the sound of laughter. It's amazing. So, please Yuuri?" Victor finished as he pushed the wet strands of hair from Yuuri's face before running a hand through his own bangs.

"I… I mean, I guess so?" Yuuri's words came out more of a question than the statement Victor figured he meant it as.

"Aw thank you, Yuuri!" Victor grinned as he unwrapped his arm from Yuuri and held him at arm's length. He began to hum something that neither of them knew but it seemed fitting. Yuuri began to softly smile and hum his own part, creating a harmony between the two of them.

The rain continued falling steadily as Victor pulled Yuuri into a dance heavily based off of choreography from one of his previous skating programs. Only with the exceptions of it being off the ice and with two people. It was almost romantic.

The way the rain was falling and plastering Yuuri's raven hair to the sides of his face. The way they both continued to hum their songs that were so different yet fit together so well. The way they would slow down only to pick up speed the next moment. The way that Yuuri was actually smiling and seemed to be having a good time, even with his glasses covered in raindrops.

Yuuri didn't seem to mind though. He seemed happy. Actually, genuinely happy. A laugh escaped him when Victor leaned forward to dip him before spinning him back into his embrace.

Victor was smiling, he couldn't remember having this much fun in the rain since the last time he had been out in it with his mother. That seemed like a distant memory compared to the scene unfolding before him. All of his past memories were just that, _memories._ But this, _Yuuri,_ was real. Everything in front of him was real. Part of him just couldn't believe it.

Continually, Victor found himself trying to restrain from immediately kissing the younger man who was laughing and smiling in his arms. He couldn't do that. And yet there he was, Yuuri in front of him, eyes bright, cheeks slightly pink, and a beautiful smile gracing his face. Victor had an arm wrapped around his waist pulling him closer. He watched the raindrops roll down Yuuri's cheek. They were so much prettier than the tears that were in their place the previous night.

"This really is fun. Thank you, Victor," Yuuri giggled as he smiled with his eyes closed. Almost looking as though he was drunk off of happiness.

It just felt _right._

Yuuri happily in his arms, the rain a beautiful background melody, just _everything._

After pulling Yuuri what seemed impossibly closer, Victor tilted his head and leaned down to kiss Yuuri's beautiful smile. Surprisingly, Yuuri didn't immediately tense up at the gesture. For a moment, it seemed that Yuuri began to lean into it, enticing Victor to keep going. It was warm compared to the rain which was becoming chilly with the now blowing wind.

The moment Victor began to reach up and tangle his fingers in Yuuri's wet hair, the younger man seemed to jump back, as far back as he could with Victor's arm still around him. He began to mumble something that Victor couldn't understand, it was a mix of Japanese and English.

Realizing he had made a mistake, Victor tucked his head into the crook of Yuuri's neck, "I'm sorry Yuuri. I shouldn't have, I really shouldn't have." With a sigh Victor added, in Russian so Yuuri wouldn't figure it out, "I love you, I really do. I care about you."

They stood like that for a couple minutes, Victor beating himself up as he messed up their happy moment. It was forward of him, too forward. Especially with Yuuri telling him to stop flirting with him earlier that day. Neither one of them dared to speak as a silence consumed them. Only broken when Victor's phone started to ring.

Groaning, Victor stood straight again as he loosened his arm around Yuuri who moved out of the embrace. When he took one look at the caller ID he grimaced at who it was. Yuuri attempted to ask who it was before Victor answered the call and guided Yuuri under the awning of the store next to them.

"Hello?"

* * *

 **I would absolutely love to take a minute and say thank you to all of you wonderful readers. Whether you're someone who reviews every chapter, or someone who just reads and has followed. Thank you to everyone, whether you've been here reading since I've started posting or have just binge read the entire story. I appreciate all of you so much!**

 **Anyway... I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I know it kind of took a turn, I mean dancing in the rain? Kisses in the rain? Where did this come from? Especially with Yuuri's breakdown the previous night? I don't know, Victor's trying his best and kinda just let the moment get away from him. And who's that mysterious person on the phone? So many questions- Leave me your questions or your predictions for the upcoming chapters!**

 **Your reviews give me fuel for more chapters :) They keep my motivation up! But, I should probably mention that I plan on finishing chapter 16 for next week and then possibly taking a break to write the first chapter of the angel and human au I'm planning. Yes it's for Yuri On Ice as well :) Then I promise I'll get back to writing this story!**

 **Once again thank you all for reading! I appreciate it so much :)**

 **I hope you enjoyed :D Until the next update!**


	19. Chapter 16

With a sigh, Victor held his phone away from his ear as he was assaulted by the yelling coming from the phone. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, it was so loud and it wasn't even on speakerphone. Just another thing to ruin the nice moment he had created with Yuuri, even though he himself was the first one to ruin it. That wasn't the point.

"OI, IDIOT, YOU DROPPED YOUR ENTIRE CAREER AND FLEW TO JAPAN?! FOR WHAT?! THAT _PIG_ OF A SKATER?!" The slew of angry Russian bombarded Victor while Yuuri stood looking very confused. Victor was beyond happy that Yuuri couldn't understand what was being said, he didn't need the unwarranted insults.

"I DIDN'T THINK YOU WERE _THIS_ STUP-"

Victor cut him off as he talked in his native tongue, "That's no way to start a conversation. And I do _not_ appreciate it, Yuri."

Yuuri glanced back up from the ground to Victor at the mention of his name. Victor quickly clarified in English to his Yuuri after pulling the phone away from his face, "Sorry, not you, Yuuri." Yuuri simply hummed as he went back to staring at the ground and kicking the pebbles that laid there.

"Also, can you please stop yelling? I already have a headache thanks to you," Victor explained in Russian with a sigh.

"Of course you do, old man," Yuri replied, clearly sassing Victor. He always seemed to speak like that.

"Yuri," Victor noticed Yuuri move at the sound of his name, "that is no way to treat your elders-"

"Screw that!"

Victor groaned and rubbed his temples, this was trying, as were most of the calls from the usually angry young Russian. It got really, _really_ annoying. Luckily, Yuri barely called and Victor never called him. He much preferred texting, all caps were much better than yelling in his ear. "So what did you call for? You have to have some reason to yell in my ear and interrupt this nice time I was having with my _soulmate._ "

"Ugh, are you telling me that _pig_ is your soulmate?!" Yuri asked, voice full of malice. Victor could start to feel the anger build up inside of him. How dare Yuri insult his beautiful, stunning, _amazing,_ Yuuri. No, that was not allowed.

"Do. Not. Call. Him. That," Victor said through gritted teeth, he noticed Yuuri glance up at him as his tone of voice changed. No matter what language he was speaking, he had no doubt the anger could be heard in his voice.

"What are you going to do about it? Huh?!"

"I would beat up your punk ass, but you're not here right now."

"Hah fight me old man."

"I WILL. YOU DO NOT DISRESPECT MY YUURI," Victor yelled into the phone as he attempted to calm himself down when he noticed Yuuri staring up at him, wide eyed. He explained in English that everything was okay and Yuuri stepped forward to quickly give Victor a hug before stepping back to his previous distance. Even with the distance, Victor appreciated the gesture. He flashed Yuuri a bright smile which was returned with a much more shy and soft one.

"GOOD, I'M FLYING TO JAPAN THIS WEEK ANYWAY," Yuri yelled back, matching Victor's volume. He paused before he realized the rest of what Victor had said. "OH HE'S _YOUR_ YUURI. I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU SEE IN THAT PIG."

"Stop it right now, Yuri. You're out of line. Why are you even coming to Japan?"

"To prove I'm better than that _pig,_ " Yuri emphasized the word, causing Victor to get angry once again. He kept telling himself that he had to maintain his composure. "With or without your help," Yuri finished.

"Fine. Whatever. I'm done." Victor finished as he hit the end call button. Oh, he wished that the old phones were around so he could slam the receiver down. Just hitting a button didn't have the same effect. After shoving his phone in his pocket, Victor groaned and rubbed his temples again.

"Umm.. Victor? What was- _who_ was that?" Yuuri asked as he took a step towards Victor as he ran a hand through his hair, pushing it back. Victor had to admit that it was very attractive with the way that the rain in it was keeping it pushed back, minus a few strands that decided to fall back onto his forehead.

"That was Yuri." After a moment's hesitation Victor added on, "Yuri Plisetsky."

"Oh-" Yuuri's breath hitched before he spoke again. "I ran into him at the Grand Prix and he was, um, less than pleasant," he finished, looking more than a little uncomfortable. Victor could understand why. Yuri did come off as brash and Yuuri was fairly sensitive. Together, that did not seem like a good combination.

"Yeah, Yuri is a little uh, how do you say? He's a bit of an asshole."

"Oh… Well then…" Yuuri trailed off as he shifted on his feet and began to glance around. "What were you guys saying?" He asked quietly, not daring to look back at Victor.

Victor knew that he had to answer, and that there were certain things that he definitely had to leave out. The insults were one of them. Yuuri did not need to hear those, and Victor decided that he would get Yuri back for them.

With a sigh, Victor began his abbreviated version of the previous conversation. "So, apparently he's coming to Japan."

"WHY?!" Yuuri loudly burst out, his eyes wide and his fists slightly balled at his side.

"Well, it seems that he has a grudge against both of us?" Victor's statement came out more of a question than he had intended while Yuuri stared at him wide eyed. That was the moment he realized that he made a mistake and attempt to correct himself. "Actually, more towards me. He seems to think that I am an idiot for coming here for you. Although, I personally don't know why my actions affect him so much. But, anyway, that aside, he apparently wants to prove to, God, I don't even know who, that he's better than you with or without me," Victor finished as he ran his hand through his bangs, tired from the past 15 or so minutes. His eyes flicked back up to Yuuri who looked extremely worried.

"Why.. But, why me? I'm nothing special," Yuuri sighed as he leaned against the wall behind him.

Victor's mind was racing, he was torn. Part of him wanted to immediately build Yuuri up, tell him that he was wonderful, amazing, absolutely perfect. Assure him that he was an amazing skater, minus his crushing loss at his last competition. Simultaneously, Victor's mind was saying that he did need to answer Yuuri's question. But, he wanted, _needed,_ to tell Yuuri how amazing he was.

"But you are special. To both Yuri and me, although for _very_ different reasons, I assure you. To him you're special because you made me drop basically everything and fly over here in what he assumes was a snap decision. He needs to prove to himself that he's better than you without my help. Trust me, I don't overly understand his reasoning, but he's going to do what he wants and we can't do anything to change that." Victor explained, he wasn't quite sure how Yuuri took it as he was looking at the ground again, his arms squished between his back and the wall as he leaned against it.

"Oh… I see," Yuuri mumbled, his voice quiet against the rain that continued to fall heavier and heavier, "Why am I special..? I mean, to you?"

Standing still, Victor for once in his life was speechless. That was surely unexpected. It didn't help that it was a question he didn't have the best answer to. But, he had to answer it anyway and he'd figure it out along the way.

"Well, Yuuri, it's kind of hard to explain," Victor started off, not overly confident in himself.

"Explain it to me." There was an edge in Yuuri's voice that Victor hadn't heard before. It made the statement seem like a demand, only softened by Yuuri's addition. "Please."

"I can try, but it's hard for me to get this type of thing into words. It's more of a feeling," Victor explained, becoming more and more confident in himself as he ran his hand through his bangs again. "I could start off by saying that you're my soulmate and that already makes you special. But I feel like you'd shut me down," Yuuri huffed in agreement. "So I won't. Let me think of a place to start.." Victor began to hum after he trailed off and began to tap a finger on his chin.

"Your skating first of all," Yuuri opened his mouth, most likely to protest, but Victor held up his hand before continuing, "it's absolutely beautiful. Whether you believe it or not. You can skate with absolutely no music behind it but it's as though there's an entire symphony. You create the music with your body. And personally, I think that's pretty awesome." Victor smiled and Yuuri returned it with a smaller one, his eyes sparkling. "You capture people and draw them in. The video of you skating my routine, you know that one, right?" Yuuri nodded shyly. "Good. That's the video that got me to fly all the way over here. You ensnared me. I had to come. I was drawn to you."

"Really?" Yuuri mumbled as he stepped from the wall and took a step towards Victor.

"Mmhm!" Victor hummed in response, as a large smile spread across his face, "But that's not it, Yuuri."

"What do you mean?" Yuuri questioned and tilted his head to the side slightly. The rain was noticeably letting up, it had began to pour for a couple minutes but it was back to the drizzle it was earlier. Thankfully the wind was dying down, so none of the rain was blowing under the awning to ruin the right moment that Victor was desperately trying to rebuild from the tatters.

"You're _you_ , Yuuri." The younger man's mouth opened his mouth slightly, Victor noticed this was something that he did often. Apparently he liked to protest the nice things Victor had to say to him. "Shush, don't say anything."

"Fine," Yuuri mumbled, eyes darting to the ground as he tilted his head down as well. Victor gently placed his hand under his chin and tilted it back up towards him. He greeted Yuuri with a gentle smile.

"I know I'm going to sound really cliche with this but it's true. Believe me. You're extremely sweet and kind and caring. You could have kicked me out the moment you saw me, I've given you so many opportunities to just tell me to go back to Russia. But you didn't. And I'm hoping that's because you're willing to give me a chance. A chance to coach you, a chance to prove myself. And I'm trying, I really am." Victor moved his hand to the side of Yuuri's face as he gently ran a thumb over his cheek, Yuuri leaning into the warmth which was a stark contrast to the now cold wind.

"You're real," Yuuri mumbled, barely above a whisper as he raised his hand to rest it on Victor's.

Taking a minute to regain himself from the seemingly off-topic comment, Victor chuckled before responding. "Of course I'm real, Yuuri. I'm right here."

"No, that's not what I meant," Yuuri shook his head slightly, his wet hair falling back into its place on his forehead. He pushed it back again and Victor couldn't help but swoon slightly at the sight. "You're a real person. You're not perfect. Far from it actually," Yuuri chuckled, his words cut deep into Victor even though he knew it was true.

Of course he wasn't perfect, that was just the persona that was put on for the public. Everyone saw him as perfect, as someone that could do no wrong. Which, if the previous night was any indication, his list of _Everything Victor Nikiforov Has Done Wrong_ was still _highly_ relevant. He just waited patiently for Yuuri to list every single he's done wrong, but when he didn't, Victor found himself trying to keep his mouth from hanging open.

"But, at the same time, you clearly know that you're not and yet you want to try and make it up to me. I see that. The only issue I have with this is that you've done a lot of damage. Especially to my self esteem. That's not reversible with 10 minutes of dancing in the rain together." Yuuri finished as his eyes flicked back to the ground.

"So… If not that, what can I do?" Victor questioned, hoping with his entire being that Yuuri would give him an actual answer. Not something cryptic like _you'll have to find out for yourself._

"If you want me to fall for you, you have to actually let me fall for you."

Well that wasn't completely useless. Victor decided that he could have gotten a lot worse of an answer. So he simply asked another question for clarification. "Huh?" Okay, so it wasn't an amazing question but it still got his idea across.

"Don't force whatever _this_ is," Yuuri gestured to the both of them as he took a step back, dropping his hand to his side as Victor quickly followed suit. "Please? For me."

"Oh-" Victor breathed out as he realized what Yuuri was saying. What he wanted, for Yuuri to fall in love with him the way he was already in love with him, would not be something he could achieve on his own. Well, he couldn't wave the magic wand he absolutely wished he had and Yuuri would be in love with him. Nope, not at all. He'd have to win Yuuri over by being himself. Actually, genuinely himself. Not perfect Victor that the media saw. Not Victor who sleeps around simply because he wanted the affection. But _Victor._

Victor who loved Makkachin with all his heart and would show everyone pictures of him, if they would let him. Victor who had the tendency to burst out into random Russian or English phrases in a way he could tell made Yuuri crack a smile. Victor who had lost his passion for skating somewhere along the way but kept going because he felt he needed to, but now had Yuuri who ignited something inside of him. Victor who felt depressed for really no reason for the longest time, but found something, _someone,_ to keep him going. Victor who developed a surprising love of katsudon. Victor who was forgetful to a fault. Victor who had a love of quaint coffee shops and could spend an entire afternoon in one, drinking something, chatting, and just basking in the smell.

Victor who loves dancing in the rain. Victor who put his past mistakes behind to make himself a better person. Victor who loves surprising anyone to make them smile. Victor who would do anything to make _Yuuri_ smile. _Victor Nikiforov who is hopelessly in love with Yuuri Katsuki._

"Victor?" Yuuri asked as he waved a hand in front of Victor's face. Victor figured he probably just spaced out for a moment, but he quickly refocused on Yuuri whose face was slightly worried. Yuuri was worried? About him? So, he didn't completely hate him.

Clearly he didn't completely hate him, Victor reasoned with himself. After all, Yuuri had said that there was something between them. His previous words also led Victor to believe that Yuuri quite possibly _wanted_ to fall for him but would it would have to take some time. This was a good sign.

"Yes! Yuuri!" Victor exclaimed as he smiled.

"I just figured you'd probably want to go do some shopping or something. Since we're heading back to Hasetsu soon. I'd also like to get out of the cold, the wind's starting to pick up," Yuuri finished as he clenched his teeth and rubbed his arms as another gust of wind came blowing through under the awning.

"You're cold!" Victor exclaimed, worry overtaking his voice. "We've got to fix that! I insist you let me buy you a sweater or something!" Victor wrapped his arm around Yuuri's shoulder, pulling him closer as to warm him up more and guard him from the wind as they began walking down the street to no store in particular.

"Victor, you really don't have to do that."

"I insist, Yuuri! My treat."

~oO0Oo~

"Mari, we're back!" Yuuri called out through the inn as he pushed open the door, Victor following closely behind him. Victor found himself blinking his eyes repeatedly to adjust to from the night outside to the bright lights of the inn.

"Oh, Yuuri! Victor! I thought you'd be back in another day or so," Mari welcomed them as she rounded the corner and came into sight, twirling an unlit cigarette between her fingers. To say the least, Victor was slightly surprised that Makkachin hadn't come running after her. Almost as though she guessed his confusion, Mari spoke up, "Makkachin's sleeping in your room, Victor. He seemed to really miss you. But how was your trip?" The question seemed to be more directed at Yuuri, who was slipping his shoes off, Victor quickly following suit.

Victor still answered it as though it was meant for him, "We had a pretty good time. Everything went well except f-" Victor immediately shut his mouth when Yuuri jabbed him in the side as he walked in front of him and over to Mari, speaking up for himself. "Everything went perfectly fine, right Victor?" Yuuri questioned as he shot a glare at Victor which seemed to say _if you disagree with me this will not end well for you._

"Mmhm, yeah everything went well. You're right, Yuuri!" Victor attempted to cover up his mistake as he watched Yuuri run off into some other part of the Inn, leaving him alone with Mari. "I'm just going to uh head to my room, y'know to sleep after all the traveling, boy am I tired," Victor said nervously as he attempted to maneuver around Mari. Only to be stopped when she grabbed his upper arm and kept him from going farther.

"Not so fast, Victor. You're going to explain what all that was."

"Whatever do you mean, Mari?" Victor asked innocently as he tilted his head to the side and plastered on a forced smile.

"You know fully well what I mean, Victor," Mari grumbled as she moved closer to Victor after she basically dragged him from in front of the doors to a more secluded spot. Probably so that they wouldn't impede any customers that happened to come in. "What did you do to Yuuri?"

"I didn't do anything," Victor tried to convince her. He didn't want Yuuri's wrath if he found out that Mari knew what happened. But at the same time he didn't want Mari's wrath either.

"Victor, I know something happened. So I'm going to ask you one more time, what happened?" Mari said through gritted teeth. With a glance down, Victor noticed that Mari had squished her cigarette between her fingers. Swallowing, Victor silently wished that she wouldn't treat him the same as that cigarette.

"Well, um, Mari, you see," Victor mumbled as he scratched the back of his neck. He was at a loss for words. Victor Nikiforov was _never_ at a loss for words.

"Tell me," She emphasized every syllable as she leaned closer in towards him.

"Yuurihadabreakdowninanalleyandit'sallmyfault," Victor ran all his words together in an attempt to get them out quickly.

Mari scoffed as she took a step back and leaned against the opposing wall. "Of course it was all your fault. At least you acknowledge it. He's had many breakdowns because of _you._ " Mari finished as she jabbed a finger towards Victor who decided that the conversation was over and took a single step to head towards his room before Mari's voice stopped him. "You're not going anywhere. You're going to listen to me."

"Okay," Victor muttered before moving back to his spot on the wall.

"Let me ask you something," Mari began as she shoved the crushed cigarette into her pocket before pulling out her pack and picking another from it, "How old were you when you first slept with someone?"

That question was completely out of the blue. Or at least it seemed like it to Victor. He hummed for a moment as he pondered it. "16, I believe."

"And here's another, how much older are you than Yuuri?"

"If I'm correct, 4 years?" Victor answered as more of a question. _Shit,_ Victor cursed himself as he realized what she was implying.

"So, if you haven't gotten this already, let me tell you. The first time that you slept with someone, Yuuri was 12. He was _12_ when he first had to watch you have sex with someone because if you haven't noticed, that's how this cruel world functions with our dreams. Do you know how hard it is to watch your little brother crawl into your room crying and refusing to go back to sleep because he didn't want to see _that_ anymore."

"I'm sor-"

Mari ignored him before continuing. "Crying that his soulmate didn't love him. That his soulmate didn't care about him. That his soulmate didn't want him," She put emphasis on each word of the last sentence. "After a while he stopped coming into my room and would just sit and cry in his room. And all of it is your fault. Hurt Yuuri any more than you already have and I will hurt you." Mari finished as she left Victor alone in the hallway. Probably headed to go smoke her cigarette.

He slumped against the wall and slid down until he was sitting on the floor with his knees up to his chest and his arms wrapped around his knees. He situated his face between his knees as his silver hair fell in front of his face. Dammit, it was worse than just Yuuri seeing him sleeping with someone else. It was _12_ year old Yuuri seeing him sleep with someone else.

He had to put Yuuri through so much. No wonder Yuuri broke down. No wonder his self esteem was basically thrown in the trash. Yuuri, _beautiful_ Yuuri. Victor didn't think about it. He didn't realize. He found there was more of a fire ignited in him to prove himself to Yuuri.

* * *

 **So, overall this story has way more angst than I ever intended. But, I'm pretty happy with how this story is turning out :) I hope you guys like it too!**

 **As always, sandypenguin6 is the wonderful beta of this story! Also, I'm not sure if I'll have an update next week or in two weeks (or more, but I hope it doesn't come to that) But, like I've said before, I'm beginning to work on my Yuri On Ice angel and human au I'm writing. I hope you guys will read that one after this story finishes!**

 **No matter, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Reviews, favorites, and follows are appreciated!**

 **Thank you for reading and I'll see you guys next update!**


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